A First Phonics Course for Young Children

Lydia M. McGrew
2008
 Table of Contents

A note on these materials 4

Introduction 6
Chapter 1 11
Chapter 2 18
Chapter 3 31
Chapter 4 37
Faith phonics teaching notes 39
Some sample beginning sentences 48
Lists
1-3 55
4--sp, sk 69
5 71
6--nk 74
7--oo 78
8--th, oo 80
9--sh, ch, review 85
10--ag, ang, ing, ung, qu, wh 92
11--qu 104
12--two-syllable words 107
13--ee, ea, e 110
14--er, review 123
15--er, ir, ur, final y 128
16--ow 132
17--er, ow, ou 137
18--or 142
19--ai, ay 147
20--ar, a as in father 154
21--oy, oi, review 159
22--aw, au, all 165
23--alt, alk 172
24--review 176
25--oa, oe, oll 179
26--ow as in grow 181
27--olt, old 186
28--y in try 189
29--review 192
30--ie in pie 194
31--ild, ind 196
32--ew, ue 199
33--review with multi-syllable words 201
34--long & short a 203
35--long & short e, review 205
36--long & short i 206
37--long & short o 207
38--long & short u 209
39--ing with long & short vowels 212
40--ies in carries 214
41--ed with long & short vowels 218
42--review 219
43--hard & soft c 221
44--hard & soft g 222
45--silent gh, ight 227
46--ought, eigh 229
47--silent l, alm, review 233
48--silent h, hard ch 233
49--ough sounds 234
50--ea in break and deaf 236
51--ear in learn, review 238
52--ie in field, ui in suit 239
53--u in put, review 241
54--wa, wo, introducing Mr. Sound-It 242
55--ou in young, furious, review 244
56--qua 247
57--sion, tion 248
58--ci & ti as sh sound 251
59--review 254
60--i before vowels in Maria, obedient 255
61--sur, review of silent e and long vowels 256
62--ture, i've in active, or in doctor 258
 4

A note on these materials

This is not, in fact, an e-book. It is a set of materials that could possibly be turned into an
e-book with a great deal of expansion and tidying up. The table of contents, above, gives page
numbers for various pieces of the materials here. This short note is meant to give you, the reader,
some idea of what you will find here and of the meaning of the various headings. Once you know
what is here, you will be able to use the table of contents and/or a search function to go where
you want to go, to browse, and to use what is likely to be most helpful to you.
Immediately following this note you will find the most book-like sections. These were
originally written in (approximately) the summer and fall of 2006. My intention, reflected in
those sections, was to write an entire book giving detailed instructions on how to teach each
aspect of the phonics course I use to your own child. My decision to stop after Chapter 4 was a
result not only of laziness and lack of time (though both of those played a role) but also of an
increasing awareness that once the parent and child are well underway in phonics teaching, they
do not really need a blow-by-blow set of instructions on how to teach each new sound, written in
the form of book chapters. The principles they have already learned, together with tips on what
worked for another person going through the process, should be enough if combined with a great
deal of material in the form of lists, sentences, and stories.
I do, however, include here a running set of notes that I have just made while teaching
one of my children using these lists and Rudolf Flesch's indispensable book Why Johnny Can't
Read. Your challenges may be different from mine, but the notes will continue to give something
like the types of tips that I give in the sample chapters. They will also explain to some degree
how I combined the use of my own lists with Flesch's. Suffice it to say that I used all of Flesch's
lists. Sometimes I teach the concepts in a different order from his, and very often I teach them
more gradually than he does, breaking down what he does in one lesson into many different
lessons. But I did not simply skip his lists. I found them extremely useful, and where my own
lists are a bit thin you may guess that I was sometimes depending more on his, especially after (as
I note) my daughter became able to read his lists from the book without struggling with the font
size.
There is indeed, as you can see, a lot of material here for you to use. Following the book-
like sections (headed "Introduction," "Chapter 1," "Chapter 2," and "Chapter 3") and the notes on
teaching Faith (just discussed), you will find a very small number of pages containing early
sentences. I had originally thought of separating sample sentences from sample lists but very
quickly realized that this was a mistake. From then on, all of the sample sentences are included
with the lists. There is no way of telling from the Table of Contents if a given set of lists will
contain sentences or a short story to illustrate the phonics concept. You just have to look at what
is there.
After the short set of early sentences, you will find a huge number of phonics word lists.
The table of contents indicates consistently from List 6 on what phonics concept is taught in each
section. Some lists are actually groups of lists, while others are only a page long. The page
numbers in the table of contents will give you some idea of how long each section is. Do not
think that your child is to do one list section at each sitting. Roughly speaking, each portion
separated from the next by a page break is a lesson I had my own daughter do at one sitting. But
 5

as you will see, some phonetic list sections contain several such portions. Also, your child's
attention and endurance span may be shorter than my child's was, so you may need to break down
the work still further.
If you think you need just some selected lists on particular phonics concepts, the table of
contents makes it possible for you to go to these. One problem that might arise from picking and
choosing in this way is that the later lists build on the earlier ones, so if you are teaching concepts
in a different order from mine, you might find my later lists less useful to you than if you had
used my order from the beginning.
And now, a final note on the use of these materials. I am not out to make money on these
materials. For one thing, they are obviously not now in saleable form. It is possible that at some
later time I might want to whip them into shape, add to them, and sell e-books or physical books
containing them, though I doubt it.
My own purpose in putting this large document on the web is to help parents to teach
their own children. I encourage you to use these materials for yourself. If you e-mail me and we
are able to work out a way for you to get this document in a word processed version (rather than
PDF), I encourage you to add things to the lists that make them more applicable to your own
child or to modify them in ways that will help your child. I encourage you to be inspired by my
ideas and to make additional lists along the same lines of your own when your child needs more
practice. I encourage you to recommend this material to other parents. What I do strongly request
that you not do is in any way to imply that you originated these lists or chapters yourself, to sell
them to anyone, or to deny or remove acknowledgment of my authorship. By making this
material available for your copying, use, and even modification (for your own use), I do not mean
to set aside my claim to have written it in the first place. Telling lies is wrong even if it doesn't
cost anyone any money. My concern is not that I might lose money if someone else were to steal
these materials and publish them under his own name. My concern rather is with the injustice of
someone else's taking credit for what is my work, into which I have put a great deal of time, and
which I have made available for the sake of parents and children. That, therefore, is where I draw
the line.
Please feel free to send me an e-mail if you think I can help with roadblocks you run into
with your own child or questions about the materials here.
 6

Introduction

On methods of teaching reading

This book fills what I see as a hole in the market for, among other things, detailed
instruction on the very earliest stages of teaching reading. It is in one sense an extended riff on
Rudolf Flesch, Why Johnny Cant Read. Flesch is excellent and indispensable, and nothing I am
doing here makes him dispensable. Get a copy of the book and read it.
But Flesch doesnt tell you in detail how to teach your little child the sounds of the letters
that he recommends you teach. Even with an older child, it is necessary to make those basic
sounds second nature. I tell you how to do that. Flesch also doesnt go into detail on the first
steps to teaching your child how to sound out. Sometimes it can be difficult to get the process
off the ground. I will tell you exactly what to do to move through that phase from the
identification of the letters to, and through, early sounding out.
What Flesch does give you is a sustained defense of the phonics method of teaching
reading. I do not. This is a how-to book. I assume that you are interested enough in knowing what
I have to teach about how to teach your child to read that you will at least give it a look and,
maybe, give it a try. While occasional polemical remarks against the whole-language, look-say,
(aka word guessing) method will crop up here, what you will find more often are tips on how to
prevent your child from guessing and how to prevent yourself from encouraging guessing. These
tips arise from the assumption that you want to know how to teach your child to read by phonics.
If you have never looked into the phonics vs. whole-language debate, and if you are an
intellectual and bookish type of person, you may feel that you need to do research and read both
sides of the argument. I hate to discourage the attempt to be objective in the search for
knowledge, but in my opinion you will be wasting your time. My best advice would be this: Read
Fleschs arguments. Read my concrete how-to advice here. If it sounds like phonics makes sense
and is worth trying, then try it. It will work with any child of normal intelligence, you will be able
to see that, you will get the bonus of having a very good speller on your hands without any extra
effort expended, and then you can do it from then on with other children you might have. You
wont have wasted your time and brain cells puzzling out the supposedly profound meaning
behind such odd whole-language slogans as Children read to get the story.
One of the best things about teaching by phonics is that it takes the artificial air of
mystery out of teaching your child to read. Heres another slogan: The most important thing you
can do to help your child learn to read is to read aloud to your child. Tommyrot. Also
balderdash. The most important thing you can to do help your child learn to read is to teach your
child to read! Teachers and education schools maintain the fiction that you are not competent to
teach your child to read by hiding from you the fact (though they may not know it themselves)
that phonics can be taught to any normal child by any moderately intelligent and fairly patient
parent. They will imply that you must just read aloud to your child for years, pointing at the
words as you go along, and then turn the child over to them in kindergarten and first grade to be
taken through whatever highly scientific and awe-inspiring process they have learned in secret at
education college to teach him to read. Home schoolers dont have this option anyway, and you
will be especially glad, if you are planning to homeschool, to hear this: Teaching reading is
 7

straightforward. That does not mean that it is easy. It takes plenty of work, time, and patience, as
well as creativity and a knowledge of your individual child. But it is not a vague or mysterious
process. You will not have to sit around in frustration wondering what in the world you can do to
help your child to read, reading aloud to him endlessly, telling him what the words are when he
asks, and hoping that someday, somehow, something will go click in his head and he will be
able to read. Some children have learned to read in that way. (They are often, interestingly, poor
spellers or struggling spellers as a result, a point that Flesch makes at length and that is borne out
by plenty of anecdotal evidence.) That way of learning is far less than ideal for a great many
reasons, and it makes both the parent and the child feel fairly helpless as to what they are
supposed to be doing. Phonics is not like that. You will always have things you can do, concrete,
sensible, and relevant things, to teach your child to read when you are teaching by phonics. That
fact alone should commend the method.

On age and font size

Though I dont read a lot of material on teaching reading, I have gathered from home
schooling friends that there is a school of thought according to which you may seriously harm
your childs eyes if you try to teach him to read before age seven. Youll gather from the many
references to three-year-olds in what follows that I dont agree. But I do think that font size is
very important in connection with age and experience. If you are going to start teaching your
three-year-old or even your four-year-old to sound out words, you must make them large. One of
my only practical complaints about the invaluable word lists in the back of Fleschs book is that
they are printed too small. I dont actually think you would harm your three-year-olds eyes by
teaching him to read words in the font size Flesch uses. But I do think you would frustrate both
him and yourself by starting with that size, especially since you will need to be pointing to the
letters to help him sound out. Once he is a little older and has more experience, he will know
how to focus on words of that size. But at the very beginning, I recommend the largest font size
your computer has to offer--72 point. Once the child has a little more experience, try moving
down to 40 point and then scale it further down as it becomes practical. Little kids learning to
read means big letters.
As you will see in the following chapters, my age-range recommendations are as follows
for children of normal intelligence:

Age 2-3 Your child can learn to recognize and name capital letters to the point of
mastery

Age 3-4 Your child can learn to recognize lower-case letters to a decent level of
competence. (Lower-case d and b may remain troublesome for some time.)

Age 3-4 Your child can learn exactly one sound for each letter

Age 3 -5 This will vary greatly, depending on childs ability and maturity. Begin
teaching sounding out regular, three-letter and, a bit later, four-letter words
 8

once the child knows one sound for each letter. Back off if it isnt working
and return to the earlier steps until the child is older and you can try again.

Age 3 -5 Continue teaching phonics concepts in approximately the order given by

Flesch or given here. Move at the speed your child can handle. Plenty of
bright children will be proficient readers by the age of five.

Age 5 If your child has not even started learning to read before now, move him
with a fair degree of speed through the letter recognition stage, on to a
sound for each letter, and immediately into sounding out and the rest of the
lessons. Do not waste long periods of time on letter recognition unless he
is having serious trouble. He is old enough to move to real reading without
significant delay.

If your child knows at this point how to read basic material, give him easy
books to read aloud to you, making sure he does not guess at the words,
supply words that arent there, or skip words that are there. Books by
Arnold Lobel such as Frog and Toad are good at about this stage. But
dont neglect moving on to teach him the more difficult phonics concepts
(e.g. -scient as in omniscient, -tial as in partial, and the like) using
the lists, sentences, and stories I hope to be able to include in the latter
parts of this book. Or make up your own lessons, expanding on Fleschs
later and harder lists. These harder ideas dont need to wait and will stick
with him better in life if he learns them now.

I strongly recommend that you not wait until your child is six to start teaching him what
the letters say and how to sound out. If you have an average child, probably you should start
teaching him the letter sounds using the chant described in Chapter 1 by age four at the latest and
should get him started sounding out easy words by the time he turns five, at the latest. Precocious
children may start sounding out far earlier, though I wouldnt recommend trying to teach
sounding out for the majority of children before 3 .
One reason not to wait any longer than age five to teach sounding out is this: Children are
curious. Your child may ask you to tell him words on signs or in books when he is five or even
younger, and if he sees you reading he will want to do it, too. He may start guessing words out of
books using the pictures or his memory of the story. Its important that he not develop bad habits
of word guessing, which can be hard to eradicate, so its best to start showing him how to read
for real fairly young.
Side note: I keep using phrases like children of normal intelligence. I do not mean to
imply that disabled children should be taught to read using some radically different method like
look-say. On the contrary, the evidence I have indicates that phonics is the only hope for a child
with a learning disability or a mental disability. If he cannot learn to read by phonics, he wont
learn to read at all. It takes a fairly intelligent child to figure out phonics tacitly when he is taught
 9

only by the word guessing method, and a child of less-than-average intelligence or with some
other problem affecting his reading skills cant afford the time wasted and the frustration caused
when teachers coyly refuse to tell him what sounds the letters make. Even the public schools
grudgingly recognize this, and children diagnosed as having learning disabilities are the only
ones systematically taught phonics. Flesch discusses some of this in the context of dyslexia in his
sequel, Why Johnny Still Cant Read. My point in using such phrases is that it will (of course) be
a slower, more difficult process to teach a mentally disabled or learning disabled child to read,
and therefore age estimates or glowing predictions of success should not be taken to apply with
the same optimism to such children. As I have no experience with disabled children, I cannot
make reliable estimates for them.

On materials

You dont need fancy curriculum to teach your child to read, and in fact you may slow
yourself, and him, down to an enormous extent by using standard reading curricula. Here are
some good tools for teaching reading:

Essential materials

You
Your child
Paper (lots of paper)
Pencil or pen
Why Johnny Cant Read, by Rudolf Flesch

Very Helpful materials

A computer word processing program with a color palette and a color printer
Crayons or markers (These are especially helpful if you dont have a word processor with a color
printer.)

Supplementary (optional) materials

Lauri letters
A Magna-Doodle or other write-n-erase thingy
The Bob Books

On your work

Not only will you be teaching your child to read. You will also, if you follow my advice
here, be writing much of what your child first reads. That may seem surprising, since I will
include (if I finish the intended project here) many suggested word lists, sentences, and even
stories.
 10

But Ive come to the conclusion that there is really no substitute for the parents hand-
writing or writing on the computer a lot of what the child reads at the very beginning. Only you
know what sounds, words, or phonetic combinations your child is having trouble with. Only you
know the names of his friends (especially if they are regular and phonetic) to include in little
sentences and stories to charm him. Only you can spontaneously write words down to illustrate a
new concept at the moment when he is most ready. Only you can print a word while sitting next
to him, have him sound it out, and then draw a quick little illustrative sketch as a reward. (I say
more about this idea in Chapter 2.) Only you know what font size he is working with best at each
stage. Pre-made lists and sentences are models. They are never a complete substitute for your
work in writing while working with your child. Dont be discouraged by this. The extra work is
worth it, and it does not seem like so much when youre in the middle of doing it. For this
reason, all lists, sentences, and stories contained here are free for copying and modifying to
anyone to whom I give this book for use with that person's own child. I request only that you
credit me in writing if you pass my material on to others and that you not sell my material.
 11

Chapter 1

The Letters and the Chant

The capital letters

The first step to teaching your child to read, as every parent will guess, is teaching your
child to recognize letters. What many parents dont know, and what no one seems to tell parents,
is how early this step can be taken and how early you can move beyond it (and where to go next).
If your child is already five years old and doesnt know his letters, dont despair. Start now. But
remember: With your next child, teach him to recognize his capital letters when hes two or
three.
When your child is two, you can begin teaching him to recognize his capital letters just as
you are teaching him to know the names of all the other objects in his environment. Hes having
a linguistic explosion at this age, pointing at things and wanting to know what they are. Capital
letters should be just more things. I recommend getting the Lauri letters, both in capital and in
lower-case. But dont try to teach the lower-case letters to your child until age three, possibly not
until age four, depending on the child. When I say, Dont try to teach, I dont necessarily mean
that you shouldnt show them to him. In fact, it may be good to show the lower-case letters to
him with the upper-case letters, as in the chant procedure described below. What I do mean is
that you shouldnt work very hard on getting him to distinguish the lower-case letters from each
other at age two, as you can do for the upper-case letters. The lower-case letters are a bit difficult
even for a bright toddler to distinguish, because so many of them look alike, and their
identification depends upon their orientation. Do try to get your two and three-year-old to be able
to say what each capital letter is when you hold it up or show it to him on the computer.
You can teach letters using many of the tools described above. Show him the capital
Lauri letters and tell him the names. Write big letters in crayon and in pencil and tell him the
names. Let him sit on your lap and type a letter in giant type (I recommend 72 point, the biggest
size on Word Perfect, to begin with) on your computer and tell him the name. Keep doing this
until he can name any capital letter when you show it to him.

The chant

As soon as your child knows the names of his capital letters, its time to start the chant.
This is where many parents lose several years quite unnecessarily, because they have no idea
where to go after teaching a child letter names, and they still think of the ABC Song as a
kindergarten activity and letter identification as a five-year-old activity. Capital letter
identification is a two- and three-year-old activity, and as soon as its accomplished, the chant
comes next.
As a rule of thumb, the earlier you begin a stage of teaching, the longer you will remain at
that stage. (Teachers of games like chess find the same thing is true.) So, for example, if you
dont start teaching your child to read at all until he is five, you will be able to move through the
letter identification and letter sounds in a fairly short time--perhaps only a few weeks--and get on
 12

to the easy word sounding-out stage. And indeed, you should, because five is a time when a child
of ordinary intelligence should be actually learning to read, not spending hours circling letters on
worksheets and singing the alphabet song. If you start teaching the letter names at age two, you
can, and should, go at a far more leisurely pace. You might teach capital letter names for six
months to a year, letter sounds for a year or more, and go on to easy words only when your child
is both confident enough in the letter sounds and mature enough that you feel you can at least try
to show him how to sound out. But the chant is ideal for two- and three-year-olds, and beginning
it at that age will insure that the common letter sounds are indelibly stamped in your childs brain
when you begin to teach sounding out. This will make the earliest stages of sounding out far
easier than they would be otherwise.
I want to say here and now that I owe the concept of the chant to the teachers at the three-
year-old and four-year-old daycare at Ravenswood Christian School in Chicago. I went to high
school at Ravenswood, a tiny Christian school in the inner city (or what is now considered the
inner city), and every day, through the open doorway of the daycare room, I could hear the
teachers doing the chant with the little children. The children clearly loved it, and I
incorporated it into my early-reading work with all three of my children with great success. I
have never seen anybody else recommend it or do it anywhere else, and Id like to advertise it as
widely as possible.
Heres how it works. For every letter, pick a short word that begins with that letter sound.
It should be a word you will be able to remember and a word that your child will like and will be
able to remember. It doesnt have to be a word that is easy to read, as he wont be reading it but
only chanting it. Contrary to what you would gather from most alphabet card sets you see, the
words do not all have to be nouns. If you think your little boy would like to jump high and hard
when he gets to the letter J, by all means use jump for your J word. By the same principle, try
not to use a word totally unfamiliar to your toddler or pre-schooler. A word like X-ray is more
or less meaningless to him. Though it is a compromise (since wed prefer to begin each word
with the corresponding sound), its better in my opinion to use box--emphasizing the final X
sound--for the letter X than X-ray. Xylophone should be absolutely o-u-t, out, as it really
begins with the sound of Z. Its a great idea, if your childs name begins with one of the sounds
below, to use the childs name as one of the words. (This option not available for parents whose
childrens names begin with long vowel sounds or with soft C or G.) Sometimes you have to give
up on familiarity. I havent been able to find a good, familiar word for the short I sound and have
had to use igloo or Indian. Something similar is true for a short O, though otter is pretty
good, and there may be pictures of otters in some of your childs books.
The goal here is to teach your child exactly one sound for each letter of the alphabet, and
the chant will take the form, A says a as in apple, A says a, a, a, B says b as in bat, B says b, b,
b. The capital letter here means that at that point you say the name of the letter. The lower-case
letter represents your saying the sound of the letter that begins the chosen word. Try if possible to
avoid drawing out the sound of the letter B as buhh. This is especially important for unvoiced
consonant sounds like the initial sound of cat. You should not say C says cuh, cuh, cuh.
Instead, say (three times) the actual, sharp-sounding, unvoiced sound that begins the word cat.
This is easier to explain and illustrate in person or on the phone. Since you, my initial audience
members, will all be family or friends, please ask if this is unclear.
 13

The sounds you should be teaching are the short vowel sounds--the initial sounds in
apple, egg, igloo, otter, and umbrella--and the hard c and g sounds--the initial sounds
in cat and goat. The letter Y should be treated as a consonant and given the initial sound in
yellow. All other consonant sounds are obvious--B having the initial sound in bottle, D in
dog, and so forth.
Digression: Let me pause here to address a worry that has been raised to me by a most
sincere and kind-hearted gentleman who came to me asking for advice about teaching a little boy
he knew to read. As the child was already four years old and could already identify his letters, I
said that they should start doing the chant immediately, and I described it to him. But he seemed
to feel that he would be deceiving the boy by telling him that A says a as in apple, since A can
also have a long vowel sound and, indeed, many other sounds in English. In fact, so disturbed
was he by this problem, as well as by his concern that the little boy wouldnt sit still long
enough for the chant, that he didnt even try, and the child, as far as I know, remained ignorant
of the most common sounds of the letters of the alphabet for some years longer.
This is foolishness, and it is a disservice to the child to refuse to use the chant described
here because of such a scruple. Every new skill has to begin somewhere. The letter A in the
English language does say--among other things--the initial sound of the word apple, and this
sound will be the most useful to the child in teaching him to read the short, easy, phonetic words
that will be his first, and tremendously exciting, accomplishments as a new reader. End of
digression.
Get your list of words in hand, and then begin doing your chant with your child. Try to
stick with the same words every time. There are two possible versions of the chant. In one
version, you first show the capital and small letters to the child, identify them, and then say what
the letter says. In the second version, suitable for chanting while walking and doing other
activities, you just give the sounds. For showing the letters to the child, I suggest either large
pieces of card-stock or papers with just the capital and small letter, or else the computer. One
procedure Ive found very successful is this: Set your two-year-old on your lap. Get your font
size up to something huge on your word processing program. Ask the child what color he wants
for the letters this time. Change the font color to that color. Type a capital and little A, say the A
portion of the chant. Quickly backspace to delete the As, type the capital and little B, say the B
portion of the chant, and so forth. You will see here that the lower-case letters are being
introduced. You are here using the fact that your child already knows the capital letters to help
him learn the lower-case letters by osmosis. You wont be asking him at a very young age to
identify lower-case letters by themselves. That can come a bit later. But just seeing the lower-
case letter next to the capital letter will invariably help him to learn them fairly painlessly.
As I am typing the chant here, Im typing the capital letter both times to indicate that you
should speak the name of the letter when you name the capital and small letter . Of course, you
will show the child the capital and small letter side by side, like this:

Aa

Speak loudly, enthusiastically, and with a bouncy rhythm. The meaning of the words will help to
hold the childs attention, if they are familiar words. Here is a sample of the entire alphabet:
 14

Capital A, little A. A says a as in apple; A says a, a, a.

Capital B, little B. B says b as in boat; B says b, b, b.
Capital C, little C. C says c as in cat; C says c, c, c.
Capital D, little D. D says d as in dog; D says d, d, d.
Capital E, little E. E says e as in egg; E says e, e, e.
Capital F, little F. F says f as in face; F says f, f, f.
Capital G, little G. G says g as in goat; G says g, g, g.
Capital H, little H. H says h as in horse; H says h, h, h.
Capital I, little I. I says i as in igloo; I says i, i, i.
Capital J, little J. J says j as in jump; J says j, j, j.
Capital K, little K. K says k as in kite; K says k, k, k.
Capital L, little L. L says l as in lion; L says l, l, l.
Capital M, little M. M says m as in mouse; M says m, m, m.
Capital N, little N. N says n as in nose; N says n, n, n.
Capital O, little O. O says o as in otter; O says o, o, o.
Capital P, little P. P says p as in pillow; P says p, p, p.
Capital Q, little Q. Q says kw as in queen; Q says kw, kw, kw.
Capital R, little R. R says r as in rabbit; R says r, r, r.
Capital S, little S. S says s as in snake; S says s, s, s.
Capital T, little T. T says t as in turtle; T says t, t, t.
Capital U, little U. U says u as in umbrella; U says u, u, u.
Capital V, little V. V says v as in van; V says v, v, v.
Capital W, little W. W says w as in water; W says w, w, w.
Capital X, little X. X says ks as in box; X says ks, ks, ks.
Capital Y, little Y. Y says y as in yes; Y says y, y, y.
Capital Z, little Z. Z says z as in zipper; Z says z, z, z.

A few more notes on pronunciation: In two cases here (Q and X), Ive actually written out
the relevant sound. Here my concerned gentleman would really have been disturbed, as
technically Q by itself does not say kw in English; thats the combination qu. But its good to
complete the alphabet, and this is the best sound to teach the child, as almost invariably in
English Q does occur followed by U, the combination having the sound kw. Your child wont
actually get to reading words with Q for quite a while in his lessons and will doubtless have to be
reminded of the sound at that point, anyway.
When you make the sounds for m, n, r, v, and z, you should be sort of humming them. I
might more precisely have written it as M says mm, Z says zz, R says rrr, and so forth.
Dont make them the beginnings of little words (muh, vuh), as these will not combine well
with other sounds when you come to teach sounding out. Again, be sure to keep your unvoiced
consonants sharp, as loud as you can make them, clear, and free of following vowel sounds. Your
sound for t, for example, should just be a loud example of the isolated sound that begins the word
turtle, not tuh. Your F and S sounds can and should be nice and sibilant--ff and ss. For some
voiced consonants, avoiding a following vowel sound is not possible. There is no way around
having a little uh when you give the sound for W. That will have to come out as wuh, wuh,
 15

wuh. Something similar is true for Y, the sound of which will sound like a brief yuh, yuh,
yuh. You will be able to see what other letters this point applies to. This is not a problem so
long as the following uh is not drawn out more than necessary.
The pronunciation of the sound of L is a little sticky. It should not be luh. Instead, try as
much as you can (practice this on your own) to isolate the sound that the L makes at the
beginning of a word like lion. It is much like the sound of le at the end of a word like little.
It will sound a little like ull, but with the short u sound somewhat swallowed and
unemphasized. It should be as close to a pure L sound as you can get, without surrounding
vowels.
All of these pronunciation tips are geared toward the following idea: When you finally
present your child with a word like hug or lap or fun and start to teach him to sound it out,
you want to a very great extent to be able to take the very sounds you have taught him and string
them together to make the word: You should be able to take the breathy sound hes learned for H,
the short u sound hes learned for U, and the voiced but not drawn-out hard G sound hes learned
and simply make the word hug for him. This process will be hindered if the sounds are turned
to any greater extent than necessary into short syllables of their own.
Now, how about that little issue of the child who wont sit still? Well, true confessions:
Ive never done this with a boy. But my girls could get wiggly, too. So for that child, I strongly
recommend the aural version without visual props, said while going on a walk or while clapping
and/or marching or jumping around. This version simply drops the Capital A, little A, Capital
B, little B part at the beginning of each line and concentrates on teaching what the letters say,
pure and simple. Remember that this is done after the child knows what the capital letters are,
anyway. If you do this version exclusively, you will have some more work later teaching the
lower-case letters, but its worth it to introduce the chant in a congenial way for an active child.
Also, its not absolutely necessary to do the whole thing every time. You can do the first
half of the alphabet at one sitting and the second half at the second sitting. Or break it into thirds
if you have to. Remember, this isnt the alphabet song. Your goal isnt, per se, to teach the child
the order of the letters all the way through the alphabet. He wont be putting things in
alphabetical order for a very long time! Rather, your goal is to teach the child the sounds in a
memorable, repetitious, and orderly way. Of course you should do them in alphabetical order as
far as you go, but you can break off if he gets bored and continue at another time, picking up
where you left off. To get the feeling of chant and rhythm, you should do some stretch longer
than just a couple of letters, but any normal child should be willing, even if he wont sit still, to
march around chanting, or listening to you chant, at least eight or ten lines at one sitting.
It would be more work, but if you really wanted to, you could make up motions for the
whole thing. Do whatever you have to, even if that takes creativity. If you find that eye contact is
of great help, dont use the computer unless you and the child can easily look each other in the
eyes and see the computer screen at the same time. Try instead sitting on the floor facing the
child and making lots of eye contact and showing lots of facial enthusiasm. Unfortunately, you
probably wont find store-bought alphabet cards particularly helpful for props. They have
colorful pictures, but almost invariably they pick some undesirable word like xylophone or
giraffe that teaches the wrong sound, and often the pictures are unrecognizable and hence not
helpful. If the pictures on the cards will distract from the words you have chosen with your
 16

specific child in mind, or if the pictures illustrate the wrong sound, you definitely should not use
store-bought alphabet cards. Its easy enough just to draw big, black letters on pieces of white
card stock and hold them up in turn. Your own enthusiasm and awareness both of the sounds of
the letters and of the meanings of the fun words are your best props.
Continue doing the chant, over weeks, months or even a year if necessary, as a normal
part of your life and play time, until your child can readily answer the question, What does ___
say? for any letter of the alphabet.

The lower-case letters

You have two options after your child knows, cold, one sound for each letter and has
mastered identifying his capital letters. Depending on your childs age, you can immediately
move on to showing him how to sound out three-letter words (see the next chapter), writing them
with capital letters only, or you can start teaching the lower-case letters he cannot already
identify. My own preference has been to take the time at this point to teach the lower-case letters
while illustrating sounding out for the child myself, without demanding performance of sounding
out. See the next chapter to learn what to do while getting ready to teach sounding out when your
child isnt yet ready to do it.
If youve been showing your child the letters while doing the chant, he will probably
already be able to recognize many lower-case letters. Find out how many he knows by writing
them on paper or showing them on the computer (remember, large font) and asking him to
identify them. Then focus on the ones he doesnt know yet, while of course not just letting him
forget the ones he does know.
If youve been exclusively using the aural version of the chant and he knows no lower-
case letters, wait to start teaching the lower-case letters from scratch until your child is at least
three, possibly 3 . Then teach them by showing them with the capital letters and identifying
them as capital and little versions of the same letter.
Almost invariably, the hardest lower-case letters are the group d, b, p, q, the group u and
n, possibly w and m, and the lower-case l. This last is difficult because your child probably
already knows it as the number 1. The others are difficult because their identification depends on
their orientation. It isnt necessary to have them all down absolutely cold before moving on to
sounding out. If he knows the majority of lower-case letters cold and has a good batting average
at the troublesome ones, that will do.
A word about serifs and differing fonts for lower-case letters: Its particularly important
to teach your child two different versions of lower-case a and lower-case g and to teach lower-
case l with and without serifs. Sometimes you will be giving him reading lessons from a book,
sometimes on a computer, and sometimes by hand-writing the words, and so he has to be able to
recognize both versions of these lower-case letters. (The third letter in each group is what you
will probably use yourself when hand-printing, so he needs to know it.) I suggest simply writing
or printing out large examples of both versions of the lower-case letter, side by side, along with
the capital letter, like this:

Aaa
 17

Ggg
Lll
(The third font in the first case is Century Gothic on Word Perfect. The second is Ariel on Word
Perfect.) Its probably good to show him and teach him to recognize a sample of your own hand-
printed version of these letters, as you must have the flexibility to hand-write words for him to
read. Do this separately from the chant. The chant cards or letters on the computer should just
have one capital and one lower-case letter apiece.
I suggest not trying to teach him to recognize a capital I without top and bottom serifs (I),
as this of course is exactly the same as a plain lower-case L, and that is much too confusing. You
will be able to avoid un-serifed capital Is for quite a long time in his lessons, as the version with
lines on the top and the bottom is more common and is what your word processing program will
produce in a default font like Times Roman. It is also easy to hand-print.
When you hand-print letters, you can make them pretty simple. For example, Ive found
no trouble with childrens recognizing a plain lower-case t, though the usual print version has a
little hook at the bottom. Just make the little T like a cross when you hand-print: t (A hook or
serif in hand printing is much more noticeable than it is on the computer.) As already indicated,
do put the lines on the top and bottom of your capital I.
Lower-case q is troublesome. Not only does it look just like lower-case p flipped over,
but its hard to work up much enthusiasm for teaching your child a letter he wont need for so
many reading lessons yet to come. My own preference is to focus, when deciding whether he
knows his lower-case letters, on showing him and teaching him a hand-printed version that has a
very noticeable tail, a bit like this: q Of course, he will just have been seeing the plain print
version that looks like a backwards p in the course of the chant. And if he recognizes it, great.
But if not, you can put a tail on it and teach it that way.
When your child is very solid on his easy lower-case letters and reasonably solid on the
harder ones, depending on your preference and his age, and when he has his capital letters and his
letter sounds down pat, you can start trying to teach easy sounding out. This is an exciting stage
and a big move. More on age and on what to do during any intermediate waiting period at the
beginning of the next chapter.
 18

Chapter 2

Earliest Steps in Sounding Out

The interregnum and the introduction

Suppose that your child has learned all his capital letters, is doing quite passably on his
lower-case letters, and is able to answer any questions of the form, What does ____ say?
readily and correctly.
You can, if you wish, introduce him immediately to the idea of sounding out words and
see if he can learn how to do it. You can always go back to maintaining the earlier stages if he is
strongly resistant or doesnt seem to be getting it at all. If your child is already five years old, I
would strongly encourage you to move right on to teaching him to sound out easy, three-letter
words. So for you, the implication in this section of a waiting period before starting to sound out
will be misleading. Even so, some of the things Im going to tell parents of very young children
are relevant to the teacher of the five-year-old as well, because what they amount to is the
introduction of the concept of sounding out before actually asking him to do it himself. But that
introduction period may be drawn out longer or kept quite short, depending on your childs age
and maturity.
If your child has his capital letters down and a sound for each, but is still struggling with
his lower-case letters, you can use some of the ideas here for a while, writing anything you do
write in capital letters only.
If your child has zipped through the earlier steps and has just barely turned three, or if he
is four but seems extremely wiggly and immature, and you feel it would be a bad idea to try to
get him to sound out words yet, there are things here that you can do in the meanwhile--besides,
of course, keeping up the skills of letter identification and knowledge of letter sounds that he
already has.
First, start illustrating out loud the concept of taking words apart and putting them back
together. The very young child may well appreciate this concept most when done purely aurally,
because three-year-olds sometimes have trouble focusing on something written on a piece of
paper. So start with three-letter, easy words that come up in daily life and show him, as a game,
how they can be taken apart and put back together. Take the word fun, for example. Say the
sounds separately, then put them together to form the word, like this: f, u, n--fun. You dont
have to show him anything for this version of the game; just say it to him.
Note that this does not mean that you are spelling the word. Instead, you are saying the
sounds of the letters sequentially and then putting them together. Ive seen people, trying to
introduce pre-reading concepts to children, point to the word cat and say, See, Johnny, C-A-T
spells cat! Now, I dont mean to say that this is entirely misguided. It would be useful for an
older child who already had some idea of how to read. And it is certainly better than just telling
him what the word is and trying to get him to memorize it as a whole gestalt object, in the classic
look-say manner. But it wont contribute significantly to teaching a young child to read. A child
who has no idea how to read needs to learn that you put the sounds together to make the word.
You dont, in fact, put the names of the letters together to form the sound of the word. So
 19

throughout this book, when I separate lower-case letters with commas as I do above, Im talking
about saying the sounds made by these letters in the word in question, just as you taught the
sounds in the letter-sound chant in the last chapter.
If you start this verbal game with sufficient enthusiasm, your child will probably start
doing it himself. He may do it with longer words, and in that case hell probably take apart only
the first bit of the word and then string all the rest together, like this: m, ommymommy. You
can show him that its possible to do even more: m, o, m, ee--mommy. But the important thing
is that hes having some fun taking apart words and noticing their component sounds.
The aural version of taking apart and putting together can be done with words that he
wont be able to read phonetically for quite some time. It isnt necessary always to stick to three-
letter words with short vowels, though these are probably the best. But you can do a word like
plane as well: p, l, ~, nplane.
Second, start showing him how to take words apart and put them together visually. Here
you will be doing the sounding out for him. Write a single word in very large letters on a sheet of
paper, a white board or blackboard, or a computer. It should have no more than three letters and
must use the sounds he knows for each of the letters. You might try starting with the word up,
which has only two letters and is sometimes a good one for early sounding out. The well-known
cat is also great. Point to each letter, and first have him tell you the sound of each letter,
pausing for him to fill in the blank. C says ___. A says ____. T says ____. After hes given
you the sounds in order, you tell him that you can make a word by putting together the sounds the
letters make--what they say. Then do it: c,a,tcat.
If you are working with a child younger than four, and if he seems completely bored, stop
for now but do it again, with that word or a different one, later on. Dont give up, as the idea of
taking words apart and putting them together while looking at the letters is getting into his head
in such sessions, however brief. I suggest making a five-year-old sit there and pay attention
through at least several illustrations. If the child (of any age) thinks this idea is interesting or is at
least willing to sit still and pay attention, do several words for him in the same way.
Be sure at this stage that there is only one word at one time in front of him. Fold the paper
after doing one word and before doing another, or use different sheets if necessary, but make sure
he is able to see clearly what letter you are making the sound for and what word you are sounding
out at every moment. If his eyes are wandering and hes just listening, try to get him to look at
the paper. Point to each letter very clearly as you say the sound for it, then run your finger (or
other pointing object) under the whole word from left to right as you put the sounds together. If
you have a white board or blackboard and a long pointing stick, this might work well as well.
Another way to do the visual version of this game is on the computer. Make the word
very large and highlight each letter as you say its sound, then highlight the entire word (or else
click on the page to un-highlight the whole word) when you put the sounds together to make the
word. Delete that word when you are ready to do another. You can let the child choose the color
of the letters, as long as it isnt something hard to see like yellow.
Pointing to the letters as you say the sounds and then running a pointer from left to right
under the word is important at this early stage, because a three-year-old probably has no idea that
left-right direction is important. Youve already seen this if hes confused lower-case D and B (d
and b). Reading words from left to right off the page (in Fleschs phrase) is something that
 20

doesnt come automatically, natural though it seems to adult readers of English. Even an older
child will find it a new idea. When you first start to have your child sound out for himself, you
will have to point to the letters for him to make sure he goes from left to right, and you may still
find him trying to start reading on the right at times or starting with some other letter he happens
to notice.
One of the many problems with the look-say method is that it deliberately teaches the
child to look around at anything on the page that might be a clue to help him guess the word,
sometimes glancing at the first letter of the word and then immediately at the last letter, noticing
that the word ends in y, noticing that one of the letters somewhere in the word has a tail, and so
forth, rather than reading in the rational sequence in which the word is actually spoken and which
is represented in English by the left-right order of the letters. It is true that with later, more
advanced phonics concepts like long vowel sounds, it is sometimes necessary to look ahead in
the word (for example, to see if it ends in the letter E) to find out how to pronounce an earlier
letter, but this is always done in the service of pronouncing correctly the letter that you have
come to as you go through the word in left-right order. In this sense, all English words are
pronounced from left to right. The important thing at this point is to din into your child that
words are read from left to right.
Keep on with the aural and visual take-apart-put-together games for as long as you think
necessary before trying to get your child to sound out himself. And dont forget to keep up his
letter recognition practice and his letter sounds chant. Sometimes some letters and sounds can be
forgotten if the words you are using to show sounding out dont use all the letters in the alphabet.
Try making some of the illustrative words all in upper-case and some in lower-case letters to
review both of these, and use occasional proper names (like Tim, Jan, Tom, Ben) to
introduce him to a combination of upper-case and lower-case letters.
This period might be only a week or two long for an older child. It might be up to a year
for a very young child. You can use for visual illustration any of the words in the first sets of lists
given later in these materials, and there are plenty of others you can think of for yourself--no
more than three letters and phonetic according to the sounds taught in the chant. If you are
planning to take the longer interregnum approach, dont be too shy about checking from time to
time to see if your child is ready to take the next step. It wont do him any harm, and he might
surprise you.

A note on rhyming

Its important in these earliest stages that as you illustrate sounding out to your child, and
later when you make up word lists for him to read, you mix up the vowel and consonant sounds
in the order of your lists and not have several words all in a row that rhyme. Remember that your
child now knows one sound for each of the letters. There is no need to have all of the words
contain the vowel E or to avoid some letter he hasnt learned yet. You will see that the sample
lists are organized this way: pot, Sam, tub, van, and so forth, rather than cat, bat,
sat, rat.
This is an anti-guessing precaution. If you have a whole list, especially a fairly long list,
of rhyming words (hen, Ben, den, etc.), any child is likely let his mind wander in the latter
 21

part of the word. He wont pay attention. If hes reading the words himself, hell just
automatically end each one with the rhyming sound that were learning today.
Its true that when you start teaching some of the harder phonics concepts (the sound
oo comes to mind here), you will often have a list with a lot of words with that sound. But even
then, the words dont have to rhyme--e.g. book followed immediately by wood is better than
book followed immediately by cook. In any event, by the time you get to having your child
read tension and ascension (to study the -sion) ending, you should be past the time of
greatest danger for word guessing.
A book that is written in rhyming lines (like The Cat in the Hat) will do your child no
harm, because either you will be reading it to him and making no pretense that he is reading if he
happens to guess the word that comes at the end of a line, or else he will really be reading the
whole book, in which case he will have to do plenty of actual sounding out in between the
rhyming end-words (unless, of course, he really has the whole book memorized).
If your child is having special trouble with one word ending, you can mix words with that
ending among others that have different endings. Theres nothing wrong with having all of the
words bag, sag, rag, and tag somewhere in the same list, if thats the ending on which
the child needs special work. But they should not all come in a row. He should really have to pay
attention to the whole word. Alternate bat with bag, for example, to make sure hes paying
attention to the end of the word.
If you decide to use reading curriculum, keep an eye out for any curriculum that relies on
lists of rhyming words in the earliest stages, and dont use it for those lists or rewrite and modify
the lists yourself.

The next step: Earliest sounding out

In my experience, the hardest part for a 3- or 4-year-old about learning to sound out
words is moving from saying the sounds separately to putting them together. As an adult, I found
this surprising, and when I taught my first child to read I believed it would be an easy matter for
her to obey my direction, after she had said the sounds for a single word: Okay, now put it all
together. But all I got was a blank look. Put it together meant nothing to her. She didnt know
what that would be like, and she could not hear the smoothly-spoken word at first in the
separated sounds. Nor was she alone in this. Every child I have taught has had the same
difficulty. This is why it helps so much for you to illustrate sounding out in the visual game
described above.
If you are very lucky, and especially if your child is older, the transition between your
showing him how to sound out and his starting to do it on his own may happen automatically and
smoothly. Perhaps one day he will simply start doing it with you. But I have to admit that this has
never happened to me.
So try this: When youre ready to try to have the child sound out for himself, pick a word
that ends in T, P, B, or D. That seems to work especially well, probably because these ending
consonants do not noticeably alter the sound of the preceding vowel. G and N do make a subtle
but noticeable alteration in the sound of some preceding vowels in American English, as I will
discuss below. For this reason, words like bag and van can be a bit difficult for the child to
 22

read at first. So try hot or hat or mop or Bob or mad, etc., for your childs first word
on his own. Make it a word that you have recently shown him how to sound out, but not in this
session. Then do the first step in the game above, not forgetting to point at the letters and making
sure hes looking at them: H says___. O says____. T says ____. He should fill in the
sounds. At this point, you say the separated sounds: h,o,t. Then look at him expectantly and ask
him, Whats the word? or And the word is...? or Put the sounds together. Whats the
word? Run your finger or pointer under the word from left to right. If you get no response, try
saying the separated sounds again, then ask him what the word is, say the h sound of H to
jump start him, and run your finger or pointer under the word to see if he will complete it. If
you still get nothing, try saying the separated sounds again, making them very clear and making
them sound almost like the word itself, though still a bit separated. Then try again to get him to
say the whole word while you run the pointer under it from left to right. (You can do this with the
highlight function on the computer, too.) If you still get nothing, try saying the separated sounds
again and then, running your pointer under the word, saying the first two sounds together, h4
(short O sound, of course) and then pointing at the T to get him to complete the word. You
should be able to get him to say the t sound of the T. Then say, Thats right! The word is
hot! And do another one, trying all the time to reduce the extent to which you need to put the
sounds together for him, until he can listen to you say the separated sounds, watch you point at
the letters, and then, looking at the word, put them together for himself.
Note (to be repeated later): When you ask him what the word is after saying the separated
sounds, make him look at the word, not at you, and do not mouth the word or any part of it
that you are asking him to do. The temptation to do so is almost overwhelming. Try to catch
yourself. Watch him to make sure he is looking at the word when he puts it together or tries to do
so, rather than looking at you. If he is looking at your face, hes hoping to see you mouth the
word or somehow tell him what to say. Keep running your finger or pointer under the word when
you are trying to get him to say it, and make sure hes looking at that, not at your face.
For a while at first, your saying the separated sounds for him will be a special help. This
is because you can, without telling him the word and while pointing at the letters sequentially,
make him start to hear the word in the separated sounds. I do not entirely know why, but at the
beginning it is easier for the child to hear that the separated sounds make the word when you say
them than when he says them himself. Note, though, that this is very different from simply telling
him the word as is commonly done in the look-say method. You are always pointing at the
separate letters and saying the separated sounds, then trying to get him to put them together. The
emphasis is always on the take-apart-put-together nature of reading.
Your saying the sounds like this is a crutch that you should remove as quickly as you are
able to do so. After he starts being able to put the words together easily after you say the
separated sounds, without additional prompting, while looking at the letters, tell him its now
time for him to say the sounds by himself as you point (or as he points) at the letters, then to put
the word together. It may take several tries or several sessions for him to say the sounds himself
and to move from that to reading the put-together word, but he will get it eventually. You may
have to recur later on to the crutch of saying the separated sounds for him when you introduce
blends that he has trouble hearing like sp or sl. (You may, in fact, need to show him how to
sound out some of those words as samples.) But any such recurrence should be brief and
 23

temporary. Of course, if he puts in a letter that doesnt belong, reading cup for cap, its not
only okay but a very good idea for you to point to the erroneous letter and say, Thats not a U,
thats an A. A says...
You should also, by the time that he is sounding out and putting together himself, remove
the initial step in which you ask him the sounds of the letters. That step was there mainly to get
him to pay attention to the sounds when you were doing most of the actual work of sounding out.
Once he is able to produce the sounds himself in order (while you point or he points at the letters
from left to right) and then put them together himself, you dont need to ask him what they are as
a separate first step. In this way the visual version of the take-apart-put-together game from the
interregnum period turns into independent reading by the child.
Its fine to use a small number of words at first and to have the child sound these out, or
to work with him in the above manner to help him sound them out, repeatedly. While there is
some danger that the child will memorize them, any problem this might pose is mitigated by the
fact that you are never rewarding him for simply looking at the word and saying it. You are
always demanding that he say the sounds first. This requirement of saying the sounds first will
continue for quite some time, until it is clear that the child is reading words phonetically and
without guessing, and until he becomes rather smooth and proficient at this.
If you have a genius on your hands, or if you suspect that you do, and he begins simply to
say the word when he sees it, dont praise him for doing so. Ask him, Is that really the word?
Sound it out and check. And if you start getting immediate, whole-word responses without
sounding out, responses that might indicate guessing, test that hypothesis by throwing in a
different word that hes never done before but that bears some similarity to the one he seems to
be reading so readily. If he starts saying cat the minute he sees cat, ask him to read cab,
which hes not already practiced. Ten to one, hell say cat. Then youll know it was
memorization-plus-guessing. Drop cat at that point for a little while and expand your list to
words he doesnt know that meet the other criteria.
A word about telling your child that he can read: I recommend telling him merely that he
is learning to read at first. Tell him that he can read words only when you can put a word in front
of him and he can say the sounds in order and then the word itself. When he can do that for a list
of, say, eight words or so, then its fine to tell him that he can read those words. Nothing else is
really reading. When hes still getting significant prompting from you, as in the very first lesson
described above, hes not reading the word yet. Just producing the final T in hot as you partly
say the word isnt reading the word. Nor, of course, is guessing a word off the top of his head
after he notices the initial letter! And it especially is not reading for him to sit with a book in
front of him and quote it from memory or make up a story. Telling an 18-month-old that hes
reading when he does this is fine. Telling a 4-year-old so is misleading. At least from the age
of 3, pretend reading should be distinguished from real reading. You dont have to be a Grinch
about your little girls reading to her dollies, but you should cheerfully label it as pretend
reading or pretending to read.
Its very important, once your child is starting actually to sound out and read short words
for himself, that you not mouth the word with him as he does it. Hell watch you instead of the
letters. To check for his looking at you rather than the word, have some lessons where the two of
you are sitting side by side. Firmly check yourself to make sure that you arent whispering the
 24

word with him or mouthing it for him, and watch him out of the corner of your eye. He may try,
especially if hes having trouble, to look at you instead of at the paper. Draw his visual attention
back to the paper and to the procedure he has to go through to decode the word: He must say the
sounds in order and then put them together. Once he can do this and is doing it on a regular basis,
the help you are offering should consist in pointing and, if necessary, in catching his mistakes
and getting him to correct them by remembering the right sound for the letter in question. If you
must in some case recur to sounding out the word for him, sound it out for him; dont just tell
him what it is. But then ask him to do it himself while you point at the letters and he looks at the
letters, and at that point be sure to keep your own mouth shut and your face still and unhelpful.

Special motivation--sketches

Little children often dont like to sit still and sound out words. Once reading isnt so hard
for your child to do and is a regular part of your life, you wont need special bribes, or at least not
for each and every word. But at the beginning, it isnt a bad idea to give him a small reward for
sounding something out. (A note in passing: If you ever have to do speech therapy with your
child, the type of reward described here works well there as well.) For my first two children, I did
a fair bit of this: Hand write a word for the child to sound out. Tell him that you will draw a
picture of the thing after he sounds it out. When he does so, draw a quick sketch. Dont worry
about how silly these will look, and make them quickly so that theres time for more words. If the
word is hug, a stick-figure Mommy hugging a stick-figure child is great. It usually doesnt
matter if the picture looks much at all like the item. The child just likes the attention and the fact
that Mom is going to all this trouble to make a drawing as a reward for him. If the word is big,
draw a big bear or a big man or even a big rock and explain to him what it is.
It should go without saying that, until the child is a pretty good reader and the danger of
guessing has mostly passed, you should not draw the picture before he reads the word. The idea
isnt to give him a clue as to what the word is but just to give him a reward for figuring it out by
phonics.
I tried to phase this reward system out fairly soon, because it does certainly slow down
the lessons. But if you have a resistant child, its extremely helpful as a motivator.

Word lists

Once your child can sound out some short words himself, its time to start having regular
reading lessons with lists. These lists may be as short as five words at first, up to ten, fifteen, or
longer, depending on your childs age, maturity, and ability to concentrate and sit still. You will
be able to tell when he is getting tired and needs to do something different. Its much better to
have him do short periods of sounding out work on, say, five days out of the week, than to make
him read lists of fifteen words at a time to you and come to detest and strongly resist his reading
lessons.
Moving to lists means moving to having multiple words in front of the child at once. You
will see in the first set of suggested lists at the back that the words are not only in very large font
but also widely spaced. If necessary, you can cover up the words on one side or the other, or both,
 25

to help your child focus on just one word at a time, but pointing--his or yours--should do the trick
by itself. And its important that he learn to focus on one word rather than another and to read
that word from left to right. This helps him to get the idea of words as units of language that
stand out from their background and have meaning, even though there are other letters and words
on one side or another of the word on which hes focusing.
Dont forget that each word should be sounded out and put together before going on to
the next word. He shouldnt sound out a whole row without stopping to put any of the words
together. Even later when he begins reading sentences, each word in the sentence will be sounded
out and read as a word before going on to the next one.
The word lists in the back are merely models. (Each page is an example of a very early
reading list.) Fleshs first few lists will provide more ideas, and you will think of many words I
have not included. You may want to put up one of these pages electronically and then let your
child choose a color to make the letters. Then the list can be printed out and read.
Obviously, this is just the beginning of bigger things. By the time your child has been
doing reading lessons for, say, a year, he will be reading much longer lists, doing it fluently, and
doing it with much harder words. But now he starts understanding that this is what reading
lessons are usually like.

Words ending in -ag, -an, and -og

For some reason, Ive found that very early readers have trouble with the word bag and
other words that rhyme with it. They also have some trouble with words ending in the letter N
and especially words that rhyme with can. But it would be a shame, and a fairly major and
unjustified restriction, to cut all such words out of your reading lessons. Ive already suggested
that they not be among the very first words you try to get the child to sound out himself. The
child should be able to sound out some words that dont end in these letters before hes
introduced to these. But they need to come in quite early.
Why is there this problem? My own theory runs like this: If you speak American English,
and if you say the word bag out loud to yourself, you can hear that the letter A in the middle
has more of the sound of a diphthong than it does in the word cat. Try it. The A in bag and
rag has a bit of an -ee sound just before you say the hard G at the end. The A in van,
though not as much of a problem as in bag, is drawn out more than the A in a word that ends
with a T or a B, like bat or cab. This phenomenon may in part depend on the teachers (and
childs) regional background, and perhaps my own difficulties have been exacerbated by the fact
that Im from the Midwest.
The solution to this problem lies in your own illustrations to the child of sounding out. If
you find that your child has special trouble with words ending in -ag and -an, just show him
how to sound some of these out yourself and then ask him to do it, then put extra practice with
the words into the word lists you give him. Ive included a few of both -ag and -an words in Set 1
of model word lists. You may need to make lists that include more, rather than fewer, of such
words in order to give your child enough practice. See how it goes and then write your own lists
or modify mine accordingly.
As for -og, lets be honest: The word dog is pronounced dawg in American
 26

English. One might initially wonder why Flesch suggests (as he does, without comment)
including words like dog and log in the earliest reading lists, as the O in the middle doesnt
actually have the sound the child has been taught. This would seem to violate the criterion that
one include only words that use the sounds the child has been taught. And if you wanted to do so,
you could separate these words and teach them as a separate phonics concept, limiting your
words that include O only to mop and Tom and on--in other words, those where the O
really has the initial sound in otter. But interestingly, though I worried about this issue with my
first child, I have found dog and similar words not to be much of a problem.
To avoid any trouble, I have not included words rhyming with dog in Set 1 of model
word lists. (They do occur in Set 2.) When you do introduce it, I suggest this: When your child
sounds out dog and puts it together, if he doesnt right away see that this word refers to a dog,
just gently morph the sound for him by re-pronouncing the word from the ordinary short O to a
sound more like aw. You can even pronounce it first with the ordinary short O sound and then
pronounce it just a little differently to let him see that the word is dog. This usually does the
trick, and he may have no more trouble with it. You may have to do the same thing with log
and fog, especially if he has no idea what fog means, but at that point there is usually no
more trouble. My brightest three-year-old used to get rather a kick out of emphasizing the fact
that this O was actually saying aw.

Two-letter words and words beginning with vowels

Why am I writing about two-letter words after suggesting (mostly) teaching the child to
read three-letter words? As you noticed, one of my suggestions for a first word to try was up,
which has only two letters. And it might seem that two-letter words should be easier to read than
three-letter words. But lets face it: There are many, many more three-letter words of the
consonant-vowel-consonant form that use the correct sounds than there are two-letter words. You
cant make much progress teaching reading if you restrict yourself to up, it, if, at, and so
forth. Moreover, though up is in some ways a good initial word to teach, my experience has
been that, overall, children catch on more quickly to reading words that begin with consonants
than words that begin with vowels. But all two-letter words that meet the phonetic requirements
begin with a vowel. So you want to have lots of words of the bat, cup, tub type at the
beginning.
This position, by the way, apparently puts me at odds with some other phonics-based
curriculum writers who suggest that the child first sound out non-word, two-letter consonant-
vowel combinations like pa (pronounced like the beginning of the word pan, not like the
word pa meaning father). I cannot endorse such two-letter non-word early lessons, though I
have never tried them. Maybe, contrary to my instinct, the pa, fa, ba, da sort of thing would
work well. But my own opinion is this: The excitement in early reading for the child lies in
finding, when hes sounded out the word, that hes said something meaningful, something that he
recognizes in his own language. This sort of reinforcement wont be there for mere word-
beginnings like fa, mo, and so forth. Moreover, too many of these combinations of letters
actually are words in English, though with the vowels pronounced differently. Pa, ma, and
me, for example, are like this, and to teach the child to read them with a short A and E sound
 27

could be confusing when later you teach the child to read them differently.
So when I speak of two-letter words, I mean things like at, it, is, up, in, and
on. These will be invaluable when you start giving the child little sentences, and they are
perfectly phonetic and use the sounds hes learned. Most of them arent very interesting, and as
Ive said, a new reader sometimes has a little trouble sounding out words that start with a vowel.
I introduce these words in Set 2 of the model word lists, interspersing them with three-letter
words of the consonant-vowel-consonant type. I also include the word and--very useful for
sentences--and other words like ant and ill that begin with vowels.
You will hopefully find that double-letter endings (like the final double L in ill) pose no
problem for your child once youve illustrated them. Just show him that the L doesnt need to be
said twice if it occurs twice in a row at the end of a word. This will add to his repertoire words
that actually contain four letters but have the final letter repeated--e.g., buzz, hill, doll, and
so forth. He really has to remember only three sounds when he puts the word together.
Dont fret about the fact that the S at the end of as and is and has is voiced and
hence technically has the sound of Z. I have found that children sail over this. As with dog, if
the child faithfully produces an unvoiced S at the end of has and fails to recognize the word,
just repeat it for him with a slightly voiced S, and he will get it. A little practice will take you
beyond any trouble. The words has, as, and is are too valuable for making sentences to be
left out of early reading training because the S at the end is voiced.

On teaching your child to spell

One of my only outright disagreements with Flesch concerns his recommendation that
you make your child spell all the words hes learning to read at the same time that you teach him
to read the words. Here, I think Flesch is wrong. The recommendation would be more
appropriate for a five-year-old or six-year-old, but even then, I think it would be discouraging if
you followed religiously a requirement that your child be able to spell any word that he can read.
Spelling requires that the child produce the letters, either by saying them or writing them.
Reading requires that he recognize the letter sounds and put them together. The two skills are
closely related, and Flesch is on to something when he connects them (more on that in a
moment). But in my experience a beginning reader spells slowly and with difficulty. Theres
nothing wrong with introducing the concept and having your child start to spell words if he can.
In fact, it can be valuable to him. It reinforces both the phonetic makeup of the words and the
left-to-right order in which the letters are to be read. And if you have waited until your child is as
old as six, he should have a spelling book as part of his first-grade school work. The only thing I
balk at is going through his reading lists twice--once for him to read the words while looking at
them and once to spell the words when you pronounce them. I think this would slow the process
of teaching him to read far too much.
Where Flesch is right is both in seeing that spelling has value in reinforcing phonics and
also in saying that a child taught to read by phonics will be a better speller than one taught to read
by the look-say method. I was skeptical about this at first, but my experience has borne him out.
Phonics readers, as Flesch says, naturally look at all the letters in the word and hence are more
likely to remember them when they try to spell. When it comes to oddly-pronounced words like
 28

Wednesday, a reader taught by phonics may even pronounce the word wrong originally (Wed-
nes-day) and then, after being corrected, hold that phonetic pronunciation in his mind and
remember it when hes asked to spell the word. Ive certainly found it true (though in a small
sample) that children taught by a rigorous phonetic method learn how to spell very nearly by
osmosis, and by the time they are in second grade, they are far ahead of their grade level in
spelling skill.
Since spelling is valuable, here are a few tips on teaching spelling to your beginning
reader: You should, of course, write down the letters. Your child is almost certainly not able to
write yet if you are following the age recommendations here. And even if he is starting to learn to
write, that is a physical skill. He should focus on the spelling itself without also having to think
about letter formation. So sit down with your child with a pencil and paper or (even more fun)
with a Magna-Doodle. Tell him he's going to tell you the letters and you are going to write them
down to make words. But tell him that they have to be words he can read. Suggest a word. Then
start pronouncing it for him very slowly--in essence, sounding it out. Ask him what letter makes
each sound. This is the reverse of the drills he has already done in which he's asked what sound
each letter makes. If he has trouble, isolate each sound in order, make it for him, and then remind
him of the chant. Say, for example, "What says s, s, s as in snake?" He should remember
eventually as you do that part of the chant, leaving a blank for the letter name, and you can tell
him if he doesn't. (Telling is okay for letters in spelling when he's just getting started.) Then write
that letter down and move on to the next. When the word is spelled, have him sound it out and
read it as usual. Then you might want to spell it out loud for him. You'll recall that I said that
spelling a word is not helpful for a child who doesn't know how to read. But as your child does
know how to read simple words, you can put together spelling with sounding out to reinforce the
fact that words are made up of letters put together from left to right.
The left-to-right point is especially important. You may find that your child says the final
letter of a word first when he's trying to spell the word. This is probably because, when he or you
say the word out loud, the last sound is the one ringing in his ears last. It's fun and valuable to tell
him, "No, that letter is in the word, but it comes at the very end. We have to think before that of
some other letters. Which letter comes first in the word?" When it's time for him to say that final
letter, you can tell him that now it's time for the letter that he wanted to give before.
Giving hints and using eye contact are fine in teaching a child to spell. The rule of thumb
here is that many of the things you were trying to avoid doing when teaching him to read--giving
hints, whispering, letting him look at you, etc.--are perfectly fine and even good to do in teaching
him to spell. This is because you never have to worry about whole-word guessing when it comes
to spelling. By the very nature of the activity you are putting words together from their basic
building blocks. There's no problem if a young child who is a beginning reader gets a hint from
you that the word "sun" begins with the letter S. You aren't training him for a spelling bee at this
point. By the same token, while you almost never want to tell him what a word is before you
have him read it, of course he knows what word the two of you are trying to spell before he
spells it. So spelling is reading turned inside-out, both in its intrinsic nature and in its pedagogy.
This is also a good chance for you to review letter names with your child. If you've not
been doing the chant much lately now that he's concentrating on reading itself, he is likely to
have begun replacing the letter names in his mind with the sounds, to think of the letter B solely
 29

by thinking of its sound. This is not a terrible tragedy, but you don't want him to forget the names
of the letters completely nor to come to forget the distinction between the name of a letter and its
sound. Reviewing the chant and learning to spell will remind him of any letter names that are
being supplanted by their sounds.

Final notes on this stage

I must here emphasize again that the model word lists are meant to prime the pump for
you. Notice what problems your child is having and work on those by making your own lists. If
hes trying to start words at the right rather than the left, make him lists that include pot and
top or map and Pam next to one another. If hes struggling with bag and other similar
words, make him lists with more of those. If he is having trouble with dog, make lists that have
that word cropping up more than once. And so forth.
If you are beginning to teach reading to a child of only four or even 3 , you will need
many more lists than I have provided. For one thing, there are probably sounds that I have not
used often enough to keep them fresh in the childs mind. This is why its important to have the
Flesch lists on hand for extra ideas and to use your own creativity and notice what sounds your
child might be forgetting or what words come up in his environment that will be especially fun
for him to be able to read.
As mentioned above, its never a bad idea to review the letter-sounds chant, especially
while you are still at this early reading stage. You shouldnt give the impression that we dont
do that anymore or youre a big boy and dont need to do the chant now that youre reading
words. Review of basic sounds is good at least until he begins doing more advanced phonics
concepts. Even at an advanced stage, I find that occasionally I will fix in a student's mind that a
vowel is short in a given word or has its normal sound by referring back to the chant: "No, the I
there isn't long. It just says i as in igloo."
If youre beginning to teach reading to a child of five, it might not be a bad idea, after
using the model lists Ive provided, to move over and have the child read Fleschs first lists as
well. (I will certainly be recommending this for his lists of words using harder phonics concepts
later.) If the font size is a problem, you could blow his early lists up on a photocopier or type
them out in a larger font for your childs own use.
Its important to go back over words that have been a problem in a given lesson. This is
so important that I recommend telling your child, when he has gotten to the bottom of the list,
Now were just going to go back to the ones you had a little trouble with and go over those
again. If you find that this seriously discourages your child, consider two moves: 1) Break the
lessons down into shorter lists. 2) Have words you suspect will be problems (or that were
problems yesterday) printed multiple times in the course of a list the next time you have a lesson.
That way he will get extra practice without having to go back when it seemed that he had reached
the end of the lesson. Option 2 is not as desirable as simply making the child go back and go over
the words he has just this moment had trouble with. For one thing, you wont always be able to
anticipate what the problem words will be. For another thing, the timing isnt quite as good:
When you go back to the words within the span of one lesson, he has to remember at least for a
little while what you said when you helped him with the word. But it is closer to the first time
 30

that he (with your help) sounded out the problem word than is the next day. So if you can get him
to go back to his problem words at the end of a lesson, this is best. And its worth making shorter
lists to avoid discouragement.
At this point, you can sit back and congratulate yourself and your child. Your child is able
to read easy phonetic words for himself. He has gotten over a potential sticking-point and is able
to see how separate sounds are put together to make a word. And the pattern for his reading
lessons has been set in that he sits down with you and sounds out a list of words, taking apart
each one and putting it together. Youre ready to move on to short sentences.
 31

Chapter 3

Short Sentences, Longer Words, and Earliest Stories

Sentences

Sentences will never replace word lists in your reading pedagogy, but they have a place of
their own. Its important for the early reader to start understanding not only that letters are put
together to make words but that words are put together to make sentences. Sentences are also
more interesting for the child to read than word lists alone. I recommend, once your child can
read sentences, interspersing lists and sentences and sometimes having a lesson consisting of just
one or just the other.
When the child reads a sentence, he should first sound out each word just as hes been
doing already. If the sentence is Tom can run, he should sound out Tom and then put it
together, sound out can and then put it together, and sound out run and then put it together.
At that point, its good for him to see that the three words arent disconnected, as in a list,
but that they make a sentence. At the beginning, you will want to read the whole sentence for him
after he reads the words separately, showing him what hes just read. But fairly early, you should
try to have him go back to the beginning of the short sentence and read the whole thing after
reading the individual words by sounding out.
Here we come to a rather delicate question: How do you distinguish the first time through
the sentence, when he sounded out each word, from the second time through, when hes
supposed to be seeing that the group of words put together has meaning as a sentence? My own
preference is to try to induce him to go through the second time, while the sounded-out words are
fresh in his mind, reading the words without sounding them out. This can be difficult. I usually
say something like, Now, this time, lets try just reading the words. I may then read the first
word or two to give him a running start. Then see, while you run your finger under each
remaining word from left to right, if he can complete the sentence. If he stops--either because he
is unsure and needs to do so or because of his previous training--and sounds a word out, go back
yourself to the beginning of the sentence and read all the words hes said up to that point, so that
he hears the sentence in the making. Once he is reading sentences fairly regularly, you can
remind him to go back and read the whole sentence after he sounds out the words by saying
something like, "And the sentence is..." or "What does the sentence say?"
How is this not a look-say approach? First and most obviously, because you made him
read each word by sounding out first and are having him read the words without sounding them
out only on the second time through the short sentence. In the long run, as the child matures as a
reader, you will have him read words carefully using phonics but not require that he sound out
each word as a separate step. That time will come later, and for now he should still sound out
every word once before he reads it in a lesson, but reading sentences the second time through
without separate sounding out is the beginning of learning that skill.
Second, if the child guesses a word and gets it wrong on the second run through the
sentence--and this will happen at some time, because children are natural guessers--you must
always stop him and say, No, dont guess. Theres no L in that word, is there? Or, Dont
 32

guess, Johnny. See, thats a U, not an A. Then he will have to sound that word out. Then you
can start reading the sentence for him at the beginning to see if he can read the rest of the
sentence correctly. Or have him start reading the sentence over again, without sounding out each
word separately, only stopping him to sound out if he guesses, e.g. "pan" for "pat." So you are
never suggesting to him that he guess at the words or read them as gestalt wholes without
reference to phonics.
Dont worry that you must have done something wrong if you catch your phonics-taught
child guessing at words. Thats just his human laziness coming out. If he can guess the word by
looking at the first letter, he figures, why should he bother looking at the whole thing? Not that
human laziness is always such a bad thing. In many other areas of life, skill comes more quickly
and more by instinct than it does in reading, so its natural for the child to try, here as elsewhere,
to minimize effort and move ahead as quickly as he can. In the end, reading will become easy and
fast, but this is still early days, so some attempt at short-cutting on his part is only to be expected.
Your childs ability to read a sentence--even after having just sounded out the words--
without separate sounding out depends at this very early stage on his memory capacity and on
keeping sentences short enough. As you get to longer sentences, you may need to break them in
the middle, preferably in some place such as before the word and. If you sense that reading
sentences the second time without separate sounding out is leading to a severe and intractable
problem with guessing, back up and try nothing more than three-word sentences for this type of
exercise. If you find that your child can't remember the words he's just sounded out one time well
enough to read a three-word sentence without sounding out, abandon the sentence-reading
requirement for now. Instead, for the time being, just go back yourself and read the sentence for
him after he has read each word separately. Run your finger under the words from left to right to
show him that the sounds are being put together even when you are not stopping to sound out.
(Dont forget to keep your font size large enough!)
For this stage, see the earliest model sentences. Feel free to improvise and write more of
your own, as you will probably want them. Remember that you have the word "will" at your
disposal for sentence-making, since it simply uses a doubled final consonant.

Short connecting words, aka "sight words"

You'll find pretty quickly that it's nearly impossible to make normal-sounding sentences
without at least the words "a" and "the." And this problem is exacerbated when you are still
working with just three-letter words. "Jim can run," "Ken has an egg," "Bill is in bed" and such-
like get old quickly. Pretty soon you start writing strange sentences like "Ken has cat," which
sounds like it was written by someone who speaks English as a second language.
It's okay to do this for a while, especially if your child is having a lot of trouble reading
sentences at all and you want to keep them especially short. But for the sake of your own sanity
and your child's education you'll want to introduce "a" as a word pretty soon and "the" at the
same time or soon thereafter. Fortunately, "an"--the other article--is just an ordinary two-letter
phonetic word.
When you want to introduce the article "a" as a word, just tell your child that the letter A
says its name when it is all by itself. Then make sure all your sentences are printed with enough
 33

space between the words to let him see easily when the letter A is all by itself. If he starts to try
using a long A in words like "and," just point out to him that there the letter A isn't all by itself.
This should do the trick after a little practice. Make sure that sometimes the word "a" begins a
sentence and sometimes doesn't, so that he sees that this new idea works whether the letter is
capital or lower-case.
Don't worry about the fact that the word "a" is normally pronounced with the schwa
sound "uh" in many sentence positions. We would literally say, "Ken has uh cat," not "Ken has ~
cat" in ordinary life. But it won't matter. The child will first learn to read it under your tutelage as
"Ken has ~ cat," and he'll know perfectly well what it means. The smoothness of ordinary
pronunciation can come later.
You can use the same process to teach "I" as a word, though it's not so necessary to your
sentence-writing as "a" and can be put off a bit. You will see it show up in my model sentences at
a particular point and at that time, if you haven't taught it already, you can explain to your child
that I says its name when it's all by itself.
Now we come to the more difficult matter of the word "the." I refuse absolutely to talk
about "sight words." You will find that even most phonics-based reading curricula and short
readers use this phrase and include lists of words under this heading, but I consider it misleading.
Some words often called "sight words" are "the," "one," "my," "to," "of," and "you." Of all of
these, "one" is probably the worst from a phonics perspective. It may be the most unphonetic
word in English, not counting loan words. The E at the end is silent, the O is not even
pronounced long given the silent final E, and there is no phonetic indication at all for the W
sound at the beginning. But fortunately "one" isn't needed for a great many sentences, and
teaching it can be put off for quite a long time with the very early beginning reader.
But for all of these (including "one"), the vowels are the major problem. The consonants,
as is almost universal in English, are regular. Moreover, for all of the words called "sight words,"
it's possible to divide the word into pieces and to explain to the child what each piece says. Most
of the pieces, too, are actually phonetic in the sense that they fit into phonetic groups or families.
For example, Y saying the long I sound as in "my" is a perfectly normal and phonetic usage
("cycle," "dry," etc.), as is the th at the beginning of "the." So the words are not even, for the most
part, unphonetic. (Aside: Flesch discusses the percentage of the English language that is
unphonetic and argues that the claim that English is "not a phonetic language" is complete
balderdash. Most of the pieces of nearly all words fall into phonetic groups.)
The major problem, then, with so-called "sight words" is not that they are fundamentally
unphonetic and so must be memorized as gestalt wholes but rather that many of the phonetic
concepts used in them would normally be taught only at a later stage of the child's reading
lessons than the stage at which you first want to use them. The th sound is a prime example of
this problem. While it's one of the earliest single-sound blends (like "sh" and "ch") you'll be
teaching, the time for it is not quite yet. (All of that really gets going in the next chapter.) When
you're first teaching sentences, you're still at an early stage of teaching reading. You probably
don't want to start introducing whole lists of words using "th," putting on a full-court press to
teach the child this blend. The more natural order is to move next to longer regular words that
use only the sounds he's already learned for letters--plural words like "cups" and "dogs" and
words like "stop," "dress," and "sand."
 34

My own advice is that you minimize the introduction of connecting words involving
jump-ahead phonics concepts (like th) or irregular sounds (like the beginning of "one") as much
as possible. Don't blithely teach your child a list of five "sight words" at a time. This will
positively encourage guessing and run counter to your whole effort to get him to sound the words
out in detail. You can get along quite nicely for some time with nothing but "the" and the article
"a." Probably the next such connecting word you'll want to introduce is "to" and perhaps "into"
and "of." You will find such words cropping up in model sentences and can teach them at that
time.
In all these cases, the procedure is this: Take the word apart as far as you are able and
explain the phonetic significance of each part. Do this even if the letter uses involved are not
going to be familiar yet. For example, for "the" tell your child that the letters "th" together
say____ (making the "th" sound). Then tell him that in this word, the E is funny and is making an
"uh" sound. So the word is "the." Here you are indeed telling him the word, but you are
explaining the parts as well, so he will still be encouraged to sound it out from left to right by
saying the proper sound for the th when he comes to it and the schwa sound when he comes to
the E. He won't need to gain proficiency in the th sound right now or to have it presented to him
in other words, but neither will you be actively encouraging whole-word guessing. The procedure
for "to" is similar. The T is regular, and then all you have to tell the child is that the letter O here
is a little different and says "oo."
Unfortunately, there is no getting around the fact that introducing even one word in this
way does have some tendency to encourage guessing. I've had an intelligent child who was
having no trouble with words beginning with H begin to guess that they were the word "the" once
"the" had been introduced. Sometimes she would point to a word beginning with H--a perfectly
simple word like "hat" or "hen" with which she'd previously had no trouble--and ask me, "Is that
'the'?" This is frustrating, as you feel like you've harmed your child's phonics impulses. This is all
the more reason to minimize the use of connecting words that contain unfamiliar phonics
concepts or exceptional letter uses. (And the early introduction of such words is a problem with
the Bob Books, which are otherwise quite good tools for teaching reading.)
When your child forgets and starts, bless him, faithfully sounding out "the" beginning
with the initial sound of "turtle" followed by the initial sound of "hat," just remind him that the
"th" here says ___ and is the beginning of the word "the."

The next word length

The next word length is four letters with different sounds. You should already be
including words of four letters with a doubled final consonant such as "will" or "fuzz." At this
point you will be making a big jump to words like...jump! You can now start to combine any of
the letter sounds your child knows into words of four letters long, or even five letters where there
is a doubled final consonant or a final ck. This will greatly expand his reading vocabulary to
plurals like "cats" and "bugs" and words beginning with all manner of so-called blends--words
like "spot," "drop," and "clip."
A word here about the notion of blends. For the most part, I think it is important to
distinguish between two-letter combinations that simply involve the sounds the child already
 35

knows and combinations that create an entirely new sound. This is why I dislike the term "blend"
when it is applied to both "cl" and "th." The latter is a much more sophisticated phonics notion
than the former. To put together "st" or "dr" at the beginning of a word is just to use the known
phonics sounds and put them together, exactly as your child has already been doing for three-
letter words. There is really nothing new here except the need to remember more sounds and put
them together properly when making the entire word. And it is, in my experience, no harder for a
child to put together the word "clip," which does begin with a so-called "blend" than for him to
put together the word "cats," which does not. In fact, he may have more trouble putting the S on
the end of a word to form a plural in a natural-sounding fashion than putting together the letters
"cl" at the beginning of a word. But "th," "sh," and "ch" involve the notion that two letters
together make one sound that is not the sound either of them makes alone. That is why those
single-sound blends really should be regarded as a distinct phonetic stage. But you don't need to
be especially cautious or make such a big deal about your child's reading words beginning with
"sp" or "cl."
The one exception to this rule of thumb--that regular phonetic initial consonant blends
need not receive special treatment--arises where experience shows that a child or children in
general seem to have difficulty "hearing" the way some such regular blend should be pronounced
when sounding out a word. In my experience, this is most likely to be the case with regular
consonant blends beginning with S but not with those beginning with C or D. So I have some
extra lists especially emphasizing S blends ("sl," "sk" and "st"), but I put words like "drop" and
"clip" in with other four-letter words and give them no special treatment. You can change this if
your child has special trouble with some other consonant blend.
A note on the final letter-group "ck": Flesch teaches this separately in list 11. My
experience has been that it can be regarded as in the same class as a doubled final consonant like
"ll" in "spill" or "ss" in "mess." Once the child gets the idea that he is supposed to pronounce a
final sound only once when there are two letters at the end of a word that make that sound, he
will probably pick up the final "ck" very quickly. The only difficulty I have run into is that
occasionally the child will try to read the K as an X on the assumption that it must be a letter that
makes a different sound. But this is easily corrected. So in the model word lists, final "ck" is
introduced without special treatment and quite early. The inclusion of these words also makes for
a much greater variety of words your child can read. If there is any special trouble, Flesch has
more practice words in his list 11.
You will now probably want to start introducing words that your child doesn't know the
meaning of, in order to have a greater variety for practice. Once you're trying to get him to read
words with more sounds, it's probably too much of a restriction to limit yourself to words he
understands, though those will still be the most exciting for him. You will probably get a lot of
questions like, "What does 'zest' mean, Mom?" This can be tedious. You can answer them for a
while, taking it as a chance to expand his vocabulary. But you don't always have to answer them,
and later when he is reading much more difficult words, you probably won't want to stop at every
one to explain its meaning. Remember that reading the word off the page and knowing what it
means aren't the same thing and need not come at the same time. Right now we're working on
being able to decode the sounds of English words from the letters. It's a great motivator for the
child to get meaning from the words as well, and he will do so for the majority of them that he
 36

reads at this early stage, but you don't want to confine yourself forever to the vocabulary of a
five-year-old, much less a three-year-old, even in teaching that very child how to sound out
words. This is probably a good time to start moving beyond that.
New model word lists for this stage are 3 and 4. The font varies in these word lists and
sentence models. If necessary, re-format for the font that is best for your child. Print only as
much as you think he can read without becoming tired. These files are meant to cover several
lessons each, and you may need to break them down into even more lessons.
 37

Chapter 4
Two-syllable Words and True Blends

The materials for this chapter cover a lot of ground. They are lists 5-12, model sentences
with ag and ang, and model sentences with qu. The reason for the smaller number of model
sentences files is quite simple: Most of the time from now on the model sentences are
interspersed with words in the word lists. I find that interweaving sentences and words in this
way provides variety and a break for the child and parent, and since I in fact teach this way, it
would be artificial to pretend to you that I do not by continuing to separate sentences and word
lists.
List 5 includes two-syllable words. If you find that your child is having trouble with two-
syllable words this soon, feel free to reduce the number found in List 5. There are advantages to
introducing two-syllable words early with the phonics concepts the child already knows. First, it
will expand vocabulary for sentences later and make them more interesting. Second, it stretches
the child's ability to hold sounds in his head at once and put them together. You can show him
how to do this by sounding the words out and putting them together. When the word is "kitten," I
advise simply sounding it all the way out from left to right and then putting it all together, as with
a four-letter word from the last chapter. When the word is a compound word like "hatbox," I
suggest showing the child that each part of it is a word and starting to teach him to see it that
way. There is not much more to be said about two-syllable words per se. They are just longer
phonetic words, and that's about all.
In fact, after this chapter, my commentary will become much less important in your
reading pedagogy than the lists--both the ones I give you and the ones you make up yourself. But
there's one big new thing here: True Blends, and nk words are a bridge to true blends.

NK words

With the introduction of "nk" words, we start sliding towards true blends. I say "sliding,"
because you can think of a word like "pink" in mor strictly phonetic terms, since every letter is
pronounced. Just as you have done with "dog," you can "morph" the word into its true sound with
an "ing" inside it from a more rigid sound that comes from saying the sounds p-i-n-k.
In my experience, this words pretty well with "ink" and "unk" but does not work well
with "ank." I'm not quite sure why. But it became necessary fairly early on simply to tell my
children that "nk" blends have a special sound, that "ink" says "ingk," "ank" says "angk," and so
forth. (The spellings are meant to show how you pronounce the sound for the child.) After that
there is nothing for it but practice, for which I have provided some lists, and you may want to
provide more. "Ank" words seemed to be the most difficult, for some reason, but they came after
practice.
You'll notice that I intersperse words like "lick" with words like "link." This is an
important motif. Children are inveterate guessers, and a bright child will inevitably try to use a
short cut, noticing most but not all of the letters in the word. It's therefore important with each
new blend first to teach it and then to mix words with the blend with words that look
superficially similar but really do not contain it. You will find this motif throughout the lists. In
 38

this way you try to fend off any confusion about words the child could read before by the
introduction of new uses of the letters. You also continue to make sure the child is noticing all of
the letters when he reads, which will help him to become a good speller.
When you first teach a new blend, I suggest strongly that you have a short lesson in which
you sit down without any of these lists but just with pencil and paper. Write out the blend, tell the
child what it says, and then illustrate by sounding out several words for him. Then write a word
using it for him to sound out, then another, and so forth until you can tell that he has a rough idea
of how it works. Many of the lists given here presuppose that the blend has already been
introduced to the child in a short lesson before and that the child is now ready to practice it and to
practice distinguishing words that use the blend from those that do not. In the case of "nk," I
called these "ink," "ank," "unk" words when talking with my child and illustrated "ink," "ank,"
and "unk" on paper for her.

OO Words

In the order given here, the first true blend is oo. It's relatively easy, because it involves a
repetition of a single letter. There isn't a whole lot to be said about oo (and indeed I won't always
have notes about new blends as this book goes on). Don't worry too much about the fact that it
has two different sounds. Show your child this and then teach him to try each of them. Here it is
fairly important for the words to be ones the child knows the meaning of, because this will help
him to figure out whether to use the sound in "book" or in "root." Have him try each one if he's
having trouble, and it's fine to tell him which sound a given word uses if he is unfamiliar with the
word and tries the other. Some, like "roof," can go either way depending on regional accent.

[End of book-like sections]

 39

Faith phonics teaching notes

My own order for teaching Faith phonics concepts is approximately given both by the lessons in
the book chapter files and by the lists through "model lists 5." At that point, I set aside writing
book chapters for a while, and I am simply saving the lists I make for her. I will keep here a list
showing the order of the phonics concepts as actually taught after list 5.

ink, ank, unk works (she had some trouble with these)

oo words (she was excited to do these, so I did them next)

th words

sh and ch (taught at the same time)

ing, ang, ung--Took lots of work and extra review, usually tendency not to notice whether there
was a g or an n and hence to confuse "in" with "ing," "an" with "ang" "ag" with "ang," etc. All of
the children have had some trouble with ing, ang, ung and needed extra practice.

qu, wh--very easy and painless, only problem was a tendency to try to say the "u" of the u in
addition to the "kw" sound or to get confused and forget to say the vowel sound following the qu.
Required review later.

ee, ea

review oo (Flesch 26) since we learned it early

er (because Flesch has already introduced it as an ending in two-syllable words, list 23).
Introduced it by itself rather than with ir and ur at first.

y as a final letter--Ignored Flesch's insistence on learning "ies" at the same time. Introduced first
with the names of the Seven Dwarfs. Then incorporated it into other lessons. She learned it very
quickly.

ir, ur (she had a lot of trouble with distinguishing ir from ri. Tended to confuse "girl" and "grill"
and to have trouble noticing whether it was ir or ri in words like "drip" and "grip." Drill took care
of the problem.)

ow, ou (Was already reading ow in some lessons by sounding out the short o sound and the w
sound. That's why I already had a few ow words in some earlier lists. But it helped a lot to make
it official that those letters make the "ow" sound.)

or (Went very smoothly.)

 40

ay and ai (It's pretty arbitrary at this point whether you teach ai before ar. Flesch has ar already,
but I brought ai earlier in the order because it allowed her to read her name.)

About this time (actually a few lessons ago) I started giving her foil stars on a small calendar for
good attitude during reading lessons. It's made a big difference and enabled us to move faster and
learn more efficiently. If I ever continue the book chapters, I should mention this way of
motivating the child.

ar and a as in mama, father, etc. Her one problem with this, which has shown up with other
combinations, is a tendency to confuse "ar" with "ra." For instance, she began having trouble
with perfectly ordinary words like "drag" and "brat" after this, because she would switch the
letters and assume it was an "ar." Drill is helping, but this is the same problem that came up with
"ri" and "ir," and it appears that left-to-right order just isn't well established at the age of four.

oi, oy

Pretty smooth, but a tendency early on to assume she was seeing "oi" when she was just seeing
"o"--as in "point, pond."

aw, au, all--She tends to forget what au says.

alt, alk (with silent l as in walk)

Idea at this point that has become very helpful: Reading her kids' books together. I read the words
she doesn't yet have phonetically, and she reads often whole sentences for which she does have
the phonetic concept. To some extent she is helped by having heard them so often, but this is
more a matter of helping her really to read than of her simply pretending to read while quoting
the book from memory. It's easy to see her hesitating and sounding out the words in her head, and
if she tries to guess from her memory of the book, I stop her and make her read it. She can now
read a fair proportion of The Cat in the Hat. This is no substitute for word lists and sentences
written by me. They are far more of a workout than children's books as she doesn't have
expectations, memories, and large amounts of context to help her out and must do them by pure
phonics. But reading her books together is a fun thing to do and is good practice for her,
especially since I am careful about not letting her guess or skip or add words.

List order from list 25 on reflects actual learning order of concepts. I don't have time to make
notes on each one.

Review becomes very important at this point. She tends to forget concepts, because we have had
so many.

Review became easier in November '07, at about my list #29, when she was three months past
her fourth birthday, because she suddenly began to be able to read the Flesch lists herself without
 41

my having to type new lists in a bigger type font. I still am writing my own lists in a larger font
for introduction of new phonics concepts.

Flesch does not do enough tricky mixing of things as drill. Even when he is teaching long and
short vowel sounds, for example, he doesn't have whole lists where "pin" and "pine" appear
randomly and the child is forced to notice the e on the end. My lists do that. He also has no way
(because he is doing just word lists and no sentences or phrases) of teaching the child the way
that context is a guide to the different pronunciations and meanings of "bow" and "wind." I also
stress thing like "children" vs. "child"--the ild is long when the word is a single syllable. But for
review, I can now go to a Flesch list for any phonics concept she is suddenly forgetting and use
his list without having to print out a list of my own. His lists also cram in more words than mine
which makes them good drill in their own way.

By Christmas of '07, Faith is beginning to read many of her own children's books. This has now
gone beyond the point where I read the words for which she has not had the phonics concepts. It
is no longer possible to stop her from simply saying what she knows the word is in a familiar
story. However, I prevent her from simply quoting the book from memory when I am with her.
First, I watch for skipping and guessing and always make her stop and read what is actually there,
or help her if the word is phonetically too hard. Second, from time to time I will point out the
phonics aspects of words she reads by memory. For example, in one book she read the word
"head" correctly, despite the fact that so far she has formally learned only the sound of "ea" as in
"tea." I said to her, "Look at that! It looks like 'heed', but really, it's pronounced 'hed.'" This trick
of showing the child how a word would be pronounced phonetically according to the concepts he
knows thus far (and making it seem funny) is excellent for reinforcing spelling and getting the
child to notice the letters in words, especially those that have partially non-phonetic aspects or for
which he hasn't yet learned the phonics concept. I told her that "bread" is spelled the same way.
You can do this with many words, including, for example, "Wednesday"--Wed-nes-day.

At this point, Faith is also picking up actual phonics concepts on her own just from having had
stories read to her aloud. She has taught herself the sound of -ight as in "night," though we are
not near that yet in the order of the lists in Flesch. I immediately discussed it with her when I saw
her reading these words correctly to herself. "Hey, look--it looks like -igt [short i sound, hard g].
The gh must be silent, and the i is saying its name!" Then I would question her, "Why isn't it
pronounced 'igt'?" She didn't give the answer right away, so I prompted, "Because the gh is..."
and she supplied "silent." In this way, her self-taught phonics is reinforced and made explicit.

The notions of silent letters and long vowels have been introduced in the recent lessons where we
have been learning long vowels. I have told her, e.g., that in "cake" the E is quiet but it tells the A
to say its name. That is how you introduce the long vowel sounds.

I had put aside the Bob books for quite a while and have made little use of them with Faith. They
seemed too artificial, too easy and boring, and yet also early on too inclined to use "sight words."
But I have now jumped back in with them at "Bob Books Pals," which is one of the highest levels
 42

and "Bob Books Wow," which is the highest level. They are in some ways far too easy for her but
are occasionally using phonics concepts she hasn't had yet. That was where I learned that she
knows the -ight. It makes a nice light reading exercise for her, though it is no substitute for
continuing with lists and the systematic teaching of concepts.

At this point she pretty much has picked up all of the words commonly thought of as "sight"
words, such as "one," "my" "come" (not phonetic, because the o is not long), "of," "they," "was,"
and so forth. She also has picked up on her own the way a final -ed is pronounced, as in
"slipped," "called," and so forth, though this does not officially come up until some lessons later
in the order of formal lessons.

(12/30/07) At this time we have just formally finished my list 37--long and short o. We have
finished all of Flesch's concepts through his list 45, though we have not actually done his lists 44
and 45 yet. We will do those as review.

After the short and long u sound (his list 46), many of the concepts in the next few lessons will
feel like review to her.

The one concept in his list 48 that will be rather hard and that I do not intend to press too hard as
yet is the idea that a vowel remains long when you drop the silent e and replace it with -ing. For
example "filing." He apparently expects the child to pick up the idea that a doubled consonant
keeps the vowel short, so he contrasts "tilling" with "tiling." I am going to see how this goes. I
don't recall how well it went with the other children this early. I will probably do a lot of
correcting of the long and short vowels for that lesson. It will clearly require more drill and
review later to teach the doubled consonant rule, which has many other applications (before -ed,
before -en, before -ing, and before -y).

I have (as the notes above show) already taught her the final y as in happy. This comes up in
Flesch's list 49. She hasn't yet formally learned to pluralize such final y words and make the ie
sound like a long e as in "candy--candies," but she seems to be picking it up osmotically. Other
than the one possible glitch on Flesch 48 (noted in the previous paragraph), I expect us to fly
through to his lesson 54. Then I will have to reconsider the proper order with which to continue. I
may very well just write and throw in a lesson of my own on -ight since she is already learning it
by herself. This doesn't come up in Flesch until his lesson 61, where he teaches it with many
other instances of silent gh (as in "though").

We did recordings of Faith reading some fairy tales early in January of '08, before actually
getting back to formal reading lessons. It went well, and she was enthusiastic about it and pushed
for it herself once she had the idea, though the fairy tale versions in the large fairy tale book we
have were hard for her. Each tale has been practiced at least once (twice in a couple of cases)
before recording. One recording of the first two tales was destroyed (by Faith, who pulled on the
tape until it broke when I wasn't watching), which meant an extra "practice." "The Ugly
Duckling" was quite hard for her. Good practice for her, though. She did amazingly well on
 43

phonics and words she would not have been expected to know. I was especially struck by her
sense for soft c and g, which we have not studied. But we will study them explicitly later.
Children often have more trouble with those than one would think, trouble that pops up later.
(Clara just turned nine, and I found her pronouncing "prodigal" with a soft g. She had entirely
forgotten the principle that g is always hard before a.)

When we began formal lessons again early in January, Faith had a bit of trouble with long u. It
turns out it has two sounds--oo as in duke and strictly long u as in mule, where the u says its
name. More than I'd expected or remembered from the other girls, teaching her long u involved
telling her whether the u actually says its name or whether it says oo. Rather like the two sounds
of oo in book and mood. The child just has to memorize which of the two sounds the long u says,
especially for words with which he's unfamiliar, like "mute."

No trouble with the long and short letters in Flesch lesson 48. She picked these up quite quickly.
Some teaching was necessary; I would explain to her that the word "used to be" something
different, but they "took away the e and put -ing instead." So, the word "filing" used to be file,
but they took away the e on the end and put -ing instead. When she would forget and say "taping"
as if it were "tapping," I would simply say, "I know, it looks like 'tapping,' but it's really 'taping'
because, see, there's only one p." She picked this up with remarkable speed. My model list 39
reviews this concept. (Note: She needed more review on this later. It's actually rather hard for a
small child to remember the two consonant rule--the vowel in the middle of a word is short if i is
followed by two consonants. Hence--baking-backing, tapping-taping.)

Next -ies as in bunnies. There was no problem here. She has previously learned ie as in pie, but
here the long e sound in the ending is clearly connected with the word it came from and with
pluralizing that word or making a comparative form ("sunny--sunnier"). She is already familiar
with some of these through reading and picked them up quickly. Occasionally she tried to do a
short o in "pony," but that was also quickly resolved when I pointed out the single n after the o. I
have made a lesson to mix up ie as in pie and ie as in babies. This list also contains "field" and
"yield," although Flesch doesn't press these until some lessons later. But it is actually the same
concept as the ie in "babies"--ie saying a long e sound.

(Note: Burned a CD for D & V and for Max and Liz with lessons through the previous paragraph
and with my model lists through list 40.)

The next really new concepts were soft c and g. The fact that c is soft before i, e, and y she
picked up fairly easily. She had already osmotically picked up some soft c words from being read
aloud to, and telling her when the c is soft was very helpful in systematizing this. I taught her
explicitly when c is soft.

But...

the soft g presented more problems. These were not actually the problems I'd anticipated. I was
 44

more concerned about the fact that soft g before e is inconsistent. For example, forget and
budget. But for these her excellent memory came into play. As usual, I just told her that the g is
hard in the one case and soft in the other, and after some practice, she has it. I also told her that g
is sometimes soft before i, e, and y, and in a hand-written teaching lesson showed her some
examples of well-known words where it is hard and soft before e so that she could learn these. So
far the only problem there has come with "stingy" vs. "singing."

But...

what she did have a lot of trouble with was the short vowel sounds in -dge words. It's very
understandable that she should find this difficult. She has just recently learned that final e makes
the vowel in the word long. No sooner does she master this than along come words like badge,
bridge, and nudge in which this isn't so. For some reason the short a in badge and Madge has
been especially hard, more so even than other vowels. We've had to do a good bit of drill. I've
done some explaining, too, with hand-written lessons, showing her that the dg together in the
middle "get in the way" so that the e does not make the vowel say its name. This is actually
another instance of the two consonant rule, and I've tried to communicate that this is the same
principle as with "tapping"--two consonants in the middle of a word (often) keep the preceding
vowel short. But that really is rather abstract for her at her age. Only drill will do, although when
she makes a mistake I do have her stop and explain why it is this way rather than that way:
"Because there's a d and a g together," for example, or "Because the d is all by itself." You can
see in model lists 44 the drill showing the differences among words ending in -ade, -age, -adge, -
ide, -ige, -idge, and so forth. After several days of work, often doing the same lesson a couple of
days in a row, she is getting it.

It's interesting to note that her experience with being read to aloud, her good vocabulary, and her
good memory have helped her to have no trouble with the oddities that do occur in Flesch's lists
at this point and in high-frequency English words generally. Parents should recognize the
possibility of problems here, though: There is an inconsistency phonetically between the long a in
a single-syllable word like "cage" and the unaccented schwa sound for the a in the second
syllable of words like "garbage" and "manage." Something similar applies to the long i in "rice"
and even "advice" and the unexplained short i in "service" and "notice." These things simply are
phonetic inconsistencies in English and have to be memorized. My own experience with these
words as with the "sight" words mentioned above is that a child's having heard these words and
having them in his vocabulary helps a great deal. The familiarity of the word in daily speaking
helps it to get burned in very rapidly once he has seen it on the page. It isn't always necessary to
explain explicitly that the a is not long at the end of "garbage" (appearances to the contrary
notwithstanding), so long as the child realizes this implicitly. If he reads words like "service,"
"garbage," and "manage" with no problem, once you help him realize that the g is soft, then you
may not need to say anything about the final vowel. I very often do call attention to phonetic
oddities (see the discussion above) for the sake of cementing the spelling of such unusual words
in the child's mind. But in this case I have let it go, given the trouble Faith has already had with -
adge as in "badge" and -age as in "cage." Since "garbage" is not a problem word for her, I'm
 45

disinclined to raise the issue.

We flew through the silent g, k, b, and t list (Flesch 60) without a pause. She's still unsure about
"badge," though, so we keep reviewing that.

At about Flesch list 61, he starts cramming way too much into the lists. I'm not quite sure why.
Maybe he thinks that students are by this time able to handle getting many different phonics
concepts all in one list, but I think it's a bad idea. Sometimes there is no rhyme nor reason for the
inclusion of various concepts together. Why is silent l taught along with ight? And sometimes
he's just wrong, as when he categorizes "palm" and "half" as both showing a silent l, when in fact
the l in palm is not silent. The lists suddenly become hasty, and many concepts are not taught
clearly at all. In list 61 he doesn't even bother to introduce expressly the unusual vowel sound of
the ei in "weight," even though this affects many words and features in a famous spelling rule. ("I
before e except after c, or when sounded like A as in neighbor and weigh.") He just includes the
many words in the list with that sound (eigh says long a) as examples of the silent gh. He never
gives sufficient space to teaching the various oddities of vowel sounds before gh. For example,
the problem isn't only that the gh in rough says an f sound but also that the ou has a short u
sound, in contrast to its sound in brought. It has still another sound in though and the ordinary ou
sound in bough. And so forth.

In addition to introducing all these things explicitly and separately, I have the child do a physical
exercise that involves sorting various -ough words according to what they rhyme with. Which
word rhymes with cow, which word rhymes with taut, which rhymes with blue, and so forth. I
actually write the words on slips of paper and teach the child to sort them according to what word
they rhyme with. I have done this with all three children, and it is very helpful.

Note: Lessons get much harder from this point on in Flesch and in my own lessons.

I taught the various sounds for ough. (Note that this includes some from Flesch's 61 and some
from his 62.) You can see these in my Model list 49, separated out with rhymes. I then wrote
them on slips of paper and cut them up. I wrote "rhymes with shout" and so forth separately on
larger pieces of paper and had her practice sorting the word slips properly. The only problem she
had was with understanding the concept of rhyme, not with reading the words. For example, she
finds it hard to remember that "off" and "taut" do not rhyme, and that "cough" rhymes with the
first of them and not with the second--the final consonant sound also must match. The only word
she messed up on at all as far as reading was "cough." Oh and "drought" once. She's reading them
all very well, but a younger child would have trouble, and even some older children who did not
have as good a memory might need a lot of drill.

When moving on to the next Flesch lesson (his 62), I made no bones about telling her what
vowel sounds were correct--long i in triumph, long o's in photo, long first o in phonograph, and
the au saying a short a sound in laugh and laughter. This is an important difficulty that arises at
this point. The vowel sounds become more irregular as the more complex consonant rules are
 46

introduced. Ph says f is absolutely regular, but there is no particular reason why the i should be
long in triumph whereas it has a long e sound before other vowels in so many other words (etc.,
experience, happier). And the short a sound in laugh is quite irregular. These things have to be
memorized. There are at most very loose rules--e.g., that o after ph is often long. But these rules
are not worth teaching, because they are so loosely applied. Words like photograph are
fortunately familiar to the child already. Have no hesitation about saying to your child, "The i is
long" or "those o's are long." This is why it is important already to have taught the concept of
long and short vowels as part of the earlier lessons. I make sure to make a big deal about laughter
and slaughter, showing that the latter is like daughter. Both of my older girls have had trouble
with this later on in life, even though I tried to teach it to them when they were young. Hopefully
Faith will remember. She's having very little trouble with the ph saying f. She just needs perhaps
one more review of Flesch's list 62 to be all set.

At this point I fell behind in making notes on Faith's progress. As I recall it was largely
uneventful as we moved gradually through the rest of Flesch's concepts. As before, I expanded
his concepts with my own lists. My procedure was to teach the concept first using my own list.
Once I had her well-taught in the concepts Flesch would be introducing in a given lesson, I used
his lessons as review. If she had trouble on a given list--his or mine--we repeated it until she
could do it smoothly.

At my list 54 I introduce Mr. Sound-It. Mr. Sound-It will be invisible to you on these electronic
documents, because you have to draw him on by hand yourself. He is a rabbit and becomes the
child's "teacher" for many of the lessons. All my girls have loved him, and you can see that he
speaks directly to the child. One of the advantages of having these lists in "soft" form (word
processing files instead of PDF) would be that then you could add your own child's name. I have
tried to cut out Faith's own name from the Mr. Sound-It lessons, but you will want to add your
child's own name anyway. Originally, it said, "Hello, Faith," whenever Mr. Sound-It was there.
Of course, you will already have seen that many of the sentences use my own children's names
and even situations in our own family. Anyway, when I am teaching one of these lessons I print
each one out and hand-draw a small picture of a bunny. Sometimes I give him glasses to make
him look more like a teacher. At this point she can read well enough that I put many of the
explanations that I would otherwise be giving to her verbally into the mouth of Mr. Sound-It, and
she reads them for herself as part of our lesson. Often I have to explain them, too, especially if
she doesn't seem to be getting the concept. All of the lessons until the end of the numbered lists
can feature Mr. Sound-It.

The ci and ti having an sh sound was a rather hard concept for her. Be prepared to go over this
one several times.

We have now finished all of Flesch's 72 lessons, as of May, 2008. Faith is nearly 5 now. Flesch
actually leaves out, accidentally, a number of phonics concepts, and in any event the child will
need a great deal of review to cement the material. (My list 60 shows that Faith had suddenly
forgotten her final e and long vowel sound! All of these weirder recent phonics concepts had
 47

driven it out of her mind.) Some concepts Flesch does not teach include the d with a j sound
before u, as in educate and residual, the re with a long e sound at the beginning of a word, as in
repair and release, and various unaccented final syllables in which the vowel simply has a schwa
sound ("uh") like the -al at the end of animal or the -ard at the end of awkward.

My next move in Faith's reading education is to move on to material that, unfortunately, I do not
have in electronic form at all. Ten years ago, when my eldest daughter was Faith's age, she was
my only child, and I had much more time, energy, and creativity. At that time I created a huge
amount of material on a very old computer, as well as much that I printed by hand. (I must have
been crazy!) The lessons written on the old computer have fortunately been saved in printed
form, but I cannot find the old disks on which I saved them electronically. These lessons actually
start again from the beginning. They are the actual lessons I wrote for the older child, much as
these lessons are the ones I wrote for Faith. But they become hard fairly rapidly, and I think the
reason for this is that my older daughter was able much sooner than Faith was to start using
Flesch directly, so I wrote fewer supplementary lessons early on. In this batch of older materials I
am skipping the earliest, easiest lessons with Faith and going straight on to the harder ones that
review things like the two consonant rule for words like filling and filing, soft and hard c and g,
and so forth. There are also many stories, some quite long, in which I worked in various phonetic
concepts. For example, a story about a kitten named George works in many words with soft g.
My plan is eventually to have this material scanned and turned into a single, large, and very
messy PDF, which I will be able to be sent to people electronically, for what it's worth. (It will be
unindexed and massive, so I don't know how worthwhile it will be.) I mention it here only so that
I do not give the impression that once the child has gone through all of my lists and all of Flesch's
lists, he's done and needs no further phonics reading lessons. That actually is not true, but for the
time being the ones given here are the only ones I can provide in electronic form.

Good luck!
 48

Early sentences

Max got wet.

Tim had an egg.

Mom will zip it up.

Bob fell in mud.

Bill is in bed.

Jen did run.

 49

Ken sat up.

Kim is hot.

Ben will get in bed.

Jazz is fun.

Pig is sad, and fox is in bed.

Dan and Don can run.

 50

Max and Liz had a cat.

Bob has a big tub.

The cat did get the big mess.

The dog will dig and wag.

The man is mad. The dog is

sad.

The cat has a red hat.

 51

A red hen sat in the box.

Six men get in the van.

The big dog did not sit. It

got Jim wet.

The man has a gun.

Set the tin can in the box.

Bill is a tan cat.

 52

The pig is in the mud.

It is wet up on the hill.

Jill got up and had an egg

and ham.

Dad can fix it.

Mom will hug Dad.

 53

Spot digs in the mud.

Max fills six milk cups.
Jill sets the cups on the mats.

Mom gets stuff in a pan.

The dogs and the ducks will jump in the
pond.

Dad has a belt on his pants.

Sam has a black belt.

Mom has a dust pan.

The man is mad. The dog felt sad.

Mom will dust the lamp. The lamp has a

 54

bulb.
Tim has ten cups. Milk is in
the cups. The cats must not
jump up and spill the cups.
Stop, cats!

Bill will step on the cans and

get the cans flat. Bill will not
slip.
 55

1
mom cup
up sit
bat cap
hen Bob
 56

bag rug
nap Sam
pup bib
rat cut
sun Ben
 57

rag get
Tim mud
dad fat
bug mop
big sip
 58

run fix
wet fox
zip vet
Max tap
van hug
cat hot
jet Jim
 59

2
cab Ned rub
dog lid six
fox and mud
at rag sun
had has log
him got bad
on is in
 60

cab tub mud ham

fox Ted Rex hen
van Max Liz sin
ill and egg end
buzz on in an
fat mop log ran
leg bag fix Dan
 61

fan sun tag

ant hill bun
tap tub can
is lap sin
lip yes up
zip zap ran
run fuzz fuss
has cub dog
yet as top
 62

doll fit fox

red nap jam
Ned fill six
ten pop tell
fix and log
Mac Max van
bib Bob jug
 63

3
nest pond send milk
land best bump must
desk belt just steps
fist ask went sis
bent dust dump sits
pond vest end mask
sand left list clip
jump last melt sick
fast drip spin back
crib stem west sets
 64

help melt cups

fast mint next
damp rest step
bulb self vans
mend felt drop
band lamp pond
hunt cats spill
 65

clap slip skim

melt milk fans
spot stop pups
lamp step tell
spin cans flat
 66

flap pots skip

stop tops scat
slip stem stop
spin self kids
skid trip trick
slam step tops
next cats stick
 67

rag sis bats bit

jam fits kits sis
sad sits pots kiss
Dan rags spots sass
sun fans spot hats
run bags bits bugs
hits ham hum spam
sled caps scat scab
black block bled band
 68

next nest bend hump

kept just went self
camp gulp dusk mist
fond rest elf mint
lisp sulk kept elm
pest hunt fact zest
sick Jack yell beds
kick cuts send stick
 69

4
skip scab scat stop
scam step top cat
spot pot skid kid
spill spit ant flap
slip slam slap step
 70

Stan skip fan

lamp lap scat
cats skid kids
spot pots step
stop must fuss
still cups up
 71

5
napkin mitten jacket
exit smack smock
truck kitten stack
helps hint tent
swig pants dusts
wept flock drift
hatbox address bucket
tomcat dentist upset
wicked wigs swept
flap glad snap
rabbit biggest unfit
catnip robin vivid
 72

hatrack sunset goblin

blocks twin tub
clump plot flint
flip mistress lapdog
tempest mastiff lipstick
basket padlock bellhop
unzip gulps unjust
 73

Stan gulps his milk. Bob stacks

his blocks and sets the blocks in
a big basket.

A rabbit runs and jumps on a

log. The kitten did not get him.

A robin flaps and gets up in his

nest.

The sunset is a vivid red.

Mom swept and got the mess in

the dustpan.
 74

6
rack skunk sunk tank
rank pink sank link
trunk lick pick pink
truck drunk sink vivid
wink rabbit blanket stink
dunk exit hatless drink
bank basket spank drank

Bob sat and drank his milk.

Jill has a pink pig bank.

Dad winks at Mom.

The black skunk has a bad stink.

Mom sets the cups in the sink.

 75

Ken must not get black ink on his hands.

 76

stink ink sank buck

stick ick sack wink
sink black blink bland
sick blank duck sand
truck suck dunk sank
trunk sunk bank band
tack pink back bank
tank pick bunk rink
 77

duck ink pick drank

dunk ick prank stinks
sink mink plink pranks
sick bland stick bank
dank blank stink band
Dick black sand bunk
rink stank sank wick
rack stack sink wink
rank pink and wind
 78

7
Book cock roof sank
broom cook too mink
hood foot tool trunk
took moon hook cool
moo stood zoom
Good hoof food
God room stool
look rook hood
lock boots food
soot shoot black
sot zoo blank
woods woof sink

Tom looks at the moon.

Jan took a spoon and set it in the sink.
The food is not hot but cool.
The dog is not at the zoo.
A dog went woof, not moo.
 79

Jill has boots and a jacket with a hood.

Soon Dad will pick up the rook and put it
on the rank.
Sam has a rook, too.
Ted stood on his step stool.
Ted has a broom and dust pan.
A hoof is a foot.
The man has a tool.
 80

8
then with Bethel
ten bath Beth
hen bat this
think bathroom his
thin bathtub them
tin Seth that
tooth Set thump
the than hump
thank tan thick
tank hand tick
 81

cloth Franklin sink

clot thankless thin
moth with this
smith wit bath
broth sixth than
Bet then thick
Beth think thin
 82

Beth will cook with Mom.

Mom cooks in a big, red pan.

Then Beth dumps milk in the pot and sets

the mats.

Ted sits with sticks on the back step and

looks at a truck.

Mom tells him that an egg is in the pan.

Ted sets his stick on the step and sits

with his cup.

Ted has eggs and milk.

 83

Jan got a foot stuck. It sank

in the mud. Jan thinks that
Spot the dog can help, but
Spot is at the vet. Then Spot
runs up. "Woof!" Jan sends
Spot to get Mom. Soon Jan
can get a bath and good
food. Thanks, Spot.
 84

Beth gets a thin stick. Then

Beth thinks that it is not

good to dig up the grass.

The rabbit thumps on a

stump with his foot.

Sam cuts this thick grass.

Spot is good for his bath.

Tim will kiss the dog.

 85

9
ship fish sank bishop
shop flush shrink wish
sip check thrill shell
chop catch Pooh shelf
chip witch oops toothbrush
shin chill soon fresh
thick flash book disk
this then scoop stop
chin sash rash stink
chess dish rook this
 86

lunch chipmunk
chunk children
ranch shut
sandwich hut
check hush
chess
cash
shall
munch
pooch

Chad had a sandwich at lunch.

In chess a rook sits on a rank.
Mom went to shop and get fresh
salad and chips.
Oops. Tim bumps his shin and his
 87

chin.
 88

pink trunk
thank truck
tank wink
sink dunk
spank bank
skunk sunk
ink think
drank rank
drink

I think that is a pink dog.

Fish swim in a big tank.
Mom will thank Bethel.
Bob drank a cup of milk.
I think I will not pet the skunk.
The skunk has a bad smell.
Dad can wink at Mom.
The rook sits on the rank.
The ship is sunk.
 89

Jim is hot and gets a good drink.

Mom sets the dish in the sink.
Big Mac at the zoo has a big trunk.
If Bill is bad, his mom will spank him.
 90

thin wish
ship thump
then shell
sip that
fish shelf
fist bath
with bash
wit thick
wish
stick

The man got his tooth brush.

Bethel had hash on the dish. Then Bethel

had milk, too.

Beth has a bath. Beth will not bash the

bad dog.
Max tells Dad that Liz has a shell.
 91

Pooh and Piglet went in the woods.

Roo went, too.
Roo will jump.
His mom tells him not to bump his shin.
Pooh had food.
Rabbit will sit with them on stools.
Piglet will boost Roo up.
Roo got a pot on the shelf.
The food is good. Yum!
Pooh has six pots himself.
Pooh is fat, not thin.
The food stuck on Piglet.
Piglet went back and took a bath with
shampoo.
 92

10

sing hang
bag hand
bang hag
ring things
sang sing
sag rang
thing swing

It is sin when children do bad things.

Beth will sit on the swing and sing. It is a lot of

fun.

A wig is not a wing.

I think it is good to thank God.

The kitten is thin. He will bat a bell. It will ring.

The kitten has fun with that thing.
 93

This is red.
Stan thinks it is fun to look at red.

Ned and Ted will whack with the bat.

Then Ned will catch a whiff of the broth Mom
has for lunch.
When Ted runs in, Mom tells him to hang up his
jacket. Ted drops his bag and shuts the closet
with a bang.

Mom tells them that soon it will be good to get

in the van and get to the bank.

hag hang
The wicked hag hangs a hat on a hook.

Thin thing
A pen is a thin thing.
 94

bin
bing
ban
bag
sing
sin
sun
sung
Don
long
song
lung
ran
rag
rang
bangs
 95

things
thin
rig
ring
hangs
hags
hands
win
wing
winning
which
witch
quack
quick
quit
quitting
96
 97

bang sitting
sing hugging
lung banging
sink dragging
bag ringing
ring big
sung rag
hitting rung
singing rig
hanging ring
clang rang
bring rug
link dig
drank ding
 98

hoof thing rang

sing skunk hanging
bank moon hag
God bag drag
dogs bang singing
bang stood sinning
big hang king
ring sink clang
soot wing hung
thank rag sang

Jan stood at the sink on the step stool.

Mom got the dishes wet.
Mom has a ring. Dad got Mom the ring.
I can hang up the dress.
The moon is getting big.
Mom will ask us not to bang.
The kids stand up and sing.
I am sitting on the rag rug.
Bethel will ask Dad to get a thing that will help
Bethel swim.
 99

Ted went bang, bang, bang on the wood box.

Mom will not drop the ring in the sink.
Jim has ink on his hands. The pen ink is black.
The tank has fish.
A man rang the big bell.
I think the thing on the step is a bug.
Jill can spell think.
 100

left plum then ing

dish sink that ang
ask sick with ung
bangs stick wit
hush stink sandwich
ink scrub test
thank sing stop
hump hand skip
vest hang thing
sunk hums
bent drink
flap spring
spill drip
stub bring
flash sting
 101

sing sang
ring hanging
hang giving
bring long
bang banging
thing singing
song sitting
songs howling
sings

The children bring a gift.

Sam rang the bell.
The wind can sink the ship.
Bethel sings songs.
I will not bang on the bed.
Jim is hanging on the swing.
 102

king hugging
standing jumping
hopping gang
sitting rung
thumping run
sting bag
lung bang
band
bang
sung
spring

Mom is thumping Jim on the back.

Sam has a chess king.
 103

Piglet is sitting on a log in the

woods. Piglet is thinking that
jumping with Roo is fun. The wind
smells good. A skunk sits on the log
with Piglet. Piglet asks it to scoot.
Thanks, skunk.
 104

11
quit quick quiz
quack quill

Mom tells us to look at the quick

rabbit running in the grass.

The man can shoot the crook with a

gun.

I will not quit singing until the end

of the song.

Bethel must finish the quiz.

 105

smith win
rank thank
this quill
with whisk
squint them
that bag
quit thump
then that
quick bang
this quill
thick hand
think sin
thing ban
when hang
whack quack
broth hag
whiff quill
thrill moth
thin hang
thing wig
cloth wing
hand had
 106

whip squint which quack

whack quiz when wing
bang sung gang quit
 107

12
address hatbox
bucket exit
mustang bathtub
unfit dishpan
quicksand dustpan
kitchen shopping
lobster tomcat
dishpan lapdog
buckskin topnotch
hamster mistress
winning goblin
locket chicken
lemon frosting
vanish tempest
catnip crossing
dustpan tinsmith
shopping quicksand
bucket chicken
 108

biggest mustang
 109

fishpond stocking
longest ringlet
hanging crossing
sunset vivid
upset mustang
biggest hatrack
goblin mastiff
padlock banging
handbag gobbling
singing dentist
wicked robin
rabbit napkin
redskin basket
whisking chipmunk
lipstick sunset
windmill lungs
 110

13
dear
beef
bet
seat
I will sit on a seat.

we
wet
tears
sleep
met
meat
 111

sang
meeting
Is Jed sleeping?

fear
free
beads
sledding
hag
hang
win
wing
beating
 112

He is beating me at chess.
 113

beast
best
dream
seed
sent
beads
beds
seal
sell
stream
tea

Dad drinks tea when he is

 114

not sleeping.

He is thanking God that we

had good food to eat.
 115

then feel
fell bang
hanging steal
self bank
winking wing
winning beast
bees jeep
sell seal
rank sang
deals needs
resting reading
real redness
 116

steal then hen

peel cheap he
dear yes when
be yeast speed
bet creep step
Ben clear steep
seek me cheek
east heat check
gear green wet
street beak Jean
sets rest Jen
feel sling team
rang sheep ten
ran bang sink
wheat tank drank
speech leaf weep
 117

years sweet hang

He
She
we
be
me

shed
wet
bed
men
hen
Shep

We got wet.
Mom got food for the men and me.
 118

He has a hen.

Jen will be on the bed.

Shep is in the shed.
She is good.

sheep
bee
keep
need
feed
tree
green
teeth
Ned
then
 119

Kep
well
shell

The sheep is in the shed.

She has ten teeth.
Ned can see the green tree.
She will keep the shell.
Kep and Shep will help with sheep.
Then Pooh sees the bees.
Well, I can feed the dog.
 120

bean
mean
read
eat
meat
hear
ear

I can read!
It is fun.
We hear Mom yelling.
She has 2 ears.
The men had meat at lunch.
 121

Poor Bethel feels sick.

Things bloom in the spring.

I shook the things in the box.

Roo will scoop them up in his net.

Hang the hat up in that room.

When we went to the zoo, we did not see

a cow.

Tom Kitten got soot on his jacket.

We got food at Chicken Coop.

Mom will boost Jean up to brush her

teeth.
 122

He did not see the bee. Then it stung him

on the foot.

She can hear the drum go "Boom."

 123

14

butter Fred
summer Fern
better thing
her lobster
herself then
hers blister
he we
Bert enter
fern seems
hen sent
jerk bang
herd letter
perch boost
peach scoop
Ben shook
Bean thanking
Bern ringing
 124

quick queen
squeal squeaking
 125

Be dinner
Ben trend
bead stern
bed fisher
bet splashing
beat finger
miller bang
Fred tatters
Fern sending
blend seems
blot dog
black hotter
blister whiskers
pitter-patter sister
ringing trotting
Hen
we
weed
wed
 126

Fred can get better at his reading.

Tom Kitten is shedding buttons in the

ferns.

Mister Fisher can eat peaches and cream

when he gets up. Then he can get his rod
and basket for fishing.

A lobster is red. It can nip a finger with

its pinchers.

The rat has whiskers. We can hear it

running pitter-patter in the attic.

Fred's sister thinks it feels too hot. She

wishes she had a pool. The children can
run in the sprinkler.
 127

Ben is a rabbit. His sister is Jean. Jean

and Ben eat green beans in the summer.
Ben steals them from Mister Macintosh.
Mister Macintosh has a cat. She runs and
jumps to stop Ben. She went "Bang!"
Ben had to drop the beans and run. He
got under the bushes and hid. Then the
cat hears a ringing bell. It is Missus
Macintosh with her food. Leaving Ben,
the cat runs to get lunch. Ben is quick.
He grabs the beans, slips into the woods,
and runs back to Jean. The cat and the
rabbits get a good supper.
 128

15

girl curly
grill ugly
Bert yummy
better burn
matter skirt
dresser squirmy
curb twirly
dirt fussy
squirt yucky
thirst yappy
first church
perk hut
sheet hurt
Shep birth
bird furry
her funny
help silly
 129

If Pooh got fatter, then it did matter.

The bird is sick, but he will get better.

Jan feels thirsty. She is the first girl to get

a drink.

"Brid" is not a real thing. A bird is a real

thing. It has wings.

She will run in the park with Shep the

sheep dog.

A man cooks meat on a grill and hands it

to the girl.

Dan can squirt his sister with the

sprinkler and get her wet.
 130

Bert tells the children not to run off the curb

into the street. Bert has dirt on his hands. It is
black soot.
 131

hanger tank
banging stinker
finger witch
keeper sketching
hood handy
bursting dolly
chirping brown
third cow
Chippy clown
bust howl
burst
bun
burn
turning
chilly
stirring
drill
hear
bring
 132

16

brown down
howling how
chirping sow
bird drown
brick Billy
flower
towel
surf
tower
town
trumpeting
turning
rang
hanger
 133

dirty
singing
curling
-ou
-ur
-ow
-ir
-ing
-ang
-ung

our rig sour

flour down surf
spill drowning girl
sound found first
bangs fund fern
 134

flower fond rang

fur rug cow
turn big bow
tower fantastic round
We put flour in good things to eat.

A red flower blooms in the spring.

The cat with black fur will sniff the

flower and bump the flour. What a mess!

A rook is a little tower.

It is our turn to sing.

He hears the sound of birds singing.

The lemon is sour.

 135

The man jumps into the surf in the sea.

 136

We had southwestern beef skillet for

supper. But Mom did not get the sour
cream. She asks Daddy to get it. He
brings it in a bag. Oh, good! Mom rang
the dinner bell loudly. I had lots of beef
skillet with cheese and sour cream on
top. Sis got a bit on her shirt. It is
yummy! Dad had tea after.
 137

17

sound curl
shout twirling
brown hurls
bangs birds
bags town
rags first
rang third
fern sturdy
dirty hound
turning
master
girls
singer
clown
 138

cloud
minister
stern
drip stretch quack
dirt fetch her
grip whack rip
girl jerk
grill herd
grin squirm
skirt purring
squirt perch
birch clerk
brick owlish
clerk south
crown spout
 139

squint spot
thrill couch
thrash now
 140

The girl has a green chip bag. She

eats loudly and crunches. Mom tells
the girls not to squirt each other
with stuff and get wet.

The clerk thinks it is fun to wink,

but he really just squints.

Kirk got a whack with a bat on his

shin. It hurt.

Dad grills fantastic hamburgers.

The kitty sits on her lap and purrs.

The girl pets her, but then she
squirms out of her grip and jumps
 141

down off the couch.

 142

18

or chop
for chin
pork quench
storm chilly
fork hungry
short ringing
corn hanger
stork lung
porch long
born punch
thorn gang
quick stream
squint weeds
pen sunbeam
torch lantern

The poor dog got a long thorn in his foot.

 143

His master took it out with tweezers. The

dog had to sit still.

We had a story about a stork. He went to

get things for the girl that was sick. He
had to go between the rocks of Korsan.

Jean is hungry and chilly out on the

porch. Mom gets her a better top and
supper. The corn is yummy.
 144

sort born story

shorts bop drop
perch squirt Ron
porch freezing trot
peach slender factory
order trip strong
fort turn
horn torn
storm angry
pot sang
port song
pet quest
pert sneezy

Mister Ken Horton is a man at our

church.

The girls got shorts for when it is hot out.

 145

The puppy trots happily down the street.

Oops. He has torn up a book that got left
on the grass. The man will be angry.

The cow has horns.

Dad orders books on the internet.

Mom forgot to get the peaches.

 146

squirrel stormy
when morning
wheat storybook
fork interesting
shout tears
short
shirt
pouch
porch
perch
Ron
room
gong
Don
sting
 147

19

-ai
-ay

Faith play
math plan
pan Ray
pain ran
stay rain
aim Sunday
stair born
day hair
dad say
aim
am

Faith went to church on Sunday.

Faith was born years back.
 148

Owl runs upstairs and downstairs, but he

still cannot be upstairs and downstairs,
too.

Faith must not drop her fork.

She has fun playing in back on Thursday.

We wish for lots of rain to get the grass

green.
 149

ran said
rain pen
pork peal
prom trail
pan fair
pain stream
cannot
plain
plan
storm
strum
really
Kelly

Kelly cannot play out in the rain when

we get a thunderstorm.

Mom said, "I really do not think it is

good to play with the food."
 150

On Sunday we will get the girls' hair cut.

Mom's hair is curly. She got a perm.

On Saturday we had pork chops and

green beans for supper.

Mom sits on the couch and tells a long

story.

Pooh said that his pot was empty. Oh,

bother!
 151

pray funny
chair slipping
may stings
furry stinks
gripping clank
girls pans
stern days
hurls faith
clay stairs
clap mouth
press mud
which mop
said Jan
quirky hen
quitting

Mister Jackson is sitting on a rocking

chair. He is dripping wet.
 152

We get down and pray and then get in

bed.

Which way must I press the clay down so

that it will look like a hand?

The girls hid without a sound under the

bed.

On Sunday we put on our best dresses.

 153

plain mouth
plan moth
pan mother
pain cloth
pail south
pal spout
braid sloth
Brad whirls
hand herd
hail girl
grills Dan
way jay
clang
 154

20

cart yard
mark mama
part papa
car father
dark llama
bank ma
bark pa
band Clara
bang bark
lark sharp
Clark hard
land barn
darling party
are yay
 155

far
 156

Mark Clark went to the park in the

dark.

We are running too far.

Mom tells Clara and Clark to get in

the car.

The dogs will bark loudly.

I put the milk in the shopping cart

when I went to Harding's.

Faith can read! It is not too hard.

If a thing is sharp, it can cut Jim's
hand.
 157

"Mama" means Mom.

"Papa" means Dad.

When Carl is running into the

street, his Mama grabs his arm.

"Stay in the yard to play," said

Mother Cat.
 158

Yesterday, Faith and Mommy went

to Harding's to shop. Faith kept
singing loudly. Mom said, "Faith,
that is too loud. You must stop." So
Faith was not as loud in the cart. At
the checkout, Mom asks the man to
help them out to the car. He pushes
a different cart and puts the bags
into the trunk. Mom tells him,
"Thanks! Good day!" Then Faith
and Mom went back to the house.
Bethel and Clara had a good
morning, but now the girls are
happy to help bring in the food
from the car.
 159

21

-oi
-oy

point drag growl

boy dark soil
toys pond cloud
join point hang
spoil Jon sulk
joy join quiz
coin brat witch
Roy Bart wheel
boil burn wheat
moist bun charm
toy birch chain
start brick play
chart turn
Carl trust
 160

smart squirm
spark hurt
 161

oink honk farm

Fran press rat
far main art
point man boil
pond enjoy brick
grab cloy birch
garb play
drag raining
dark planning
toil hunt
Jon hurt
Roy morning
joint loudly
hurling Sparky
print Trusty
fern
sun
soil
hand
 162

Mom puts foil on the food to keep it hot.

Jon has a toy brick house.

The birds look for bugs when it is not

raining. Mama bird drags the food back
to the nest.

Soil means dirt. Roy got a lot of soil on

his feet in the morning when he ran the
sprinkler on the grass. He has to sweep
the porch with a broom to clean it when
he finishes.
 163

scarf queen
hood preach
smooth dear
darn deer
bar lard
branch ray
girl maid
grip spray
birth coy
pins oily
pointer
ponder
grouchy
clown
 164

scrap how
scarf hottest
brink mirth
brick happiness
birds faithful
foil squeak
loin crunchy
hoist forest
joyful bars
art braid
rat hair
hens brats
west soy
east noisy
north quickly
south dropping
brunch
burns
 165

22

-aw
-au
-all

jaw howl
yawn foul
paw fall
launch pawn
haul down
all yowl
raw yawn
fraud Paul
shawl
straw
tall
draw
balls
 166

lawn
drag
 167

ball our
Al or
All couch
God coil
Good coin
bell corn
Call bricks
well born
wall grill
will gal
point caw
fill cow
fall haul
fell howl
Cal Paul
shoot pout
boy paw
food pow
stall rang
hall rag
hill arch
flour paint
168
 169

Faith has a pink toy toilet from the doll house.

Al can draw a tall horse running from the barn.

When it finishes running, it will eat hay in its
stall.

Three girls in this house are very smart, with

top-notch brains.

Paul catches the ball in the hall. Paul's mom

looks unhappy about the banging noise.

Let's not set Howard on the toilet tank. If he

were to fall in, we'd be upset.

Clara tells her little sister not to put the pawn in

her mouth. Pawns are for playing chess.

Faith has a story about a puppy that gets rubbers

to keep the rain off. But the rubbers pinch his
paws.
 170

We play chess with rooks. But I bet you never found

out that a rook is a black bird. A rook has a noise
that sounds like caw. It is very loud.

Now, a cow cannot say caw. A cow cannot bow.

A cow has no paws. A cow just eats grass on the
lawn. It pulls up the grass with its jaws.

A sow is a mommy pig. A sow can sleep with a

bunch of little piglets.

And now you can say more about a sow, a cow and a
rook.

All the cats get to be with Al.

Cal calls his dog out of the mud.

Will Jill be at her house or our house?

A leaf fell from the tree. Then all of them fell down.
Soon it will be winter.

Hang that on the wall.

 171

Dad is in the hall. He has coins in his pocket.

If the girl falls, she will get soil on her jeans. Soil is
dirt.
 172

23

-alk
-alt
hawk
walk saw
salt walk
talk laundry
fault thaw
chalk barn
halt drawn
malt yelling
Walter wettest
jaw clown
crawl bet
call claws
crowd cloudy
yet clods
drank squall
 173

clang taunt
drawing Paul

Walter belongs to Clara. He never

squalls.

It is important not to yell loudly when the

girls are studying.

The kitten is falling off the couch. It is

not his fault that he scratches the couch
when he grabs with all his claws.

It is not very smart to crawl in a big

crowd.

Taunting a person is not good.

On our walk we can talk.

 174

Chalk can be messy on hands and pants.

So is salt, if you spill it.
 175

Jimmy said it is not his fault if his sister spills

milk on her shirt.

I can pull that string taut.

Paul plays with red chalk drawing on the back

porch and gets his pants all messy.

Do not talk to Clara when she is on a speed

drill.

Faith is not fussy on our family walks. She has

fun with Daddy and Clara when she walks just
in front of them.

The black cat stalks the bird in the tall grass. It

jumps, but the bird gets away to the roof.

I think this dish needs salt. Yum! That's better!

Dawn means first thing in the morning. The

birds get up at dawn and sing songs. We do not.
 176

24

brat salty talk sand

bark yum toil church
bird yack stall fun
brick Cal stock fur
point call stand witch
pond mall start which
foil malted fort stitch
yet mat corn fetch
can smell con chum
fell small wheat chilly
fall fault ornery cheese
grip walk wall hang
grill cook charm hamper
girder spoon wheel handed
awning spook swam rang
brown book harm song
fawn boost bang bring
fan dream ban snout
faun drip long star
Paul Fred Ron ouch
 177

Pal filling sing birch

pan mist sin leaf
brawl moist sang stir
 178

A mouse sat in his house eating peas. Suddenly

a loud noise got him to jump up and look out. A
cat sat waiting. It stuck its paw into his living
room, and the lamp fell down. The mouse took
his fork and stuck it at the big paw. The cat said,
"Me-ow" and ran away.
 179

25

-oa no
-oe so
-oll go

boat no coal
toast foe throat
toe coach go
goes coat toad
troll woe hoe
strolling oats scroll
Joe oar float
roast toes croak
whoa toll road
oak groan so
doe roar coal
soap roll stroll
loaf groan goat
 180

The three billy goats gruff went to eat

green grass and get fat. But the troll was
waiting for them and said, "I'm going to
eat you up."

Mister Jackson is a toad. He gets the

mouse's house all wet. But he gets rid of
the bees.

A doe is a girl deer. A fawn is a small

deer. A doe can also be a fawn. A
mommy doe may have a fawn herself.

Daddy grills meat on coals in the back

yard. It's yummy!

The three girls are floating in the

swimming pool.
A dog cannot roar. It just barks.
 181

26

Ow can have a long O sound.

row glow low

follow growing bow (in hair)
fellow throw
blow grown
shown growth
show tow

cow throw
blow brown
howl Did the moon follow Owl?
show
growl
grow
He took a bow.
She put a bow in her hair.
 182

Faith is growing taller every day.

A dog growls when he is angry.
 183

low troll
slower walking
blow chalky
clown crow (a bird)
flower crown
growling owl
growing show
yellow sail
hang chair
brownish
long
Joe
Hal
hall
haunted
book
throw
 184

The cat said with a bow, "I will show you

a good trick."

The puppy is howling and growling at

the black crow in our back yard.

The wind is blowing loudly during the

storm.

Mom hung a yellow towel on the bar.

It is not smart to put a red bow on a cat.

The cat will snarl and scratch to get it off.

We are going to launch a small boat in

the bathtub.

Clara has a cross that glows in the dark.

It looks a little bit green.
 185

Sam is cutting the grass with a lawn mower.

The little girl is walking slower and slower.

Maybe she is looking for her pocket handkin.

At the end of Beatrix Potter's story, how small

the animal had grown, and how brown, and with
no dress on!

In the winter we get lots of snow in our town.

On a snowy day we must put on snow pants,
boots, and mittens.

Mister Jackson was rowing his lily leaf boat out

into the pond to catch fish. When the big fish
got him, he did not drown.

A long song is sung in church.

Mom has hung the dress up in the closet.

We get air with our lungs.

 186

27

-old
-olt

told
colt
bolt
cold
molt
told
hold
jolt
gold
sold
dolt
bold

blow troll jolly hold

foam holly boat Molly
how all goes cold
Joe Sally old bolt
 187

go grown doll ball

brown drown bolt hanger
low jolt stroll doe
Molly is 5 years old. She got a gold star for her
reading lesson.

Is it hard to remember that stroll has a long O

sound but jolly has a short O sound? Doll has a
short O sound, but that is easy. Troll has a long
O, like toll and scroll.

Holly can be a girl. Holly visits us in the spring.

Holly can be a plant. I have holly on a shirt.

The brown puppy has grown up into a big dog.

Look out for the cat's claws. She can scratch if

she is angry.

The old dog gets cold in the winter. He will rest

next to the air vent to get the heat.
 188

Mom told me that she will get a bolt of cloth for

a dress. I'd rather get a black colt.

Hold on! Do not drop the tool on the lawn!

 189

28

A y at the end of a word can have a long I

sound.

my
cry
sky
by
dry
spy
fry
why
shy
fly
try
apply

Now let's mix them up with others.

happy Sneezy howl hurry

free dolly bowl shy
 190

fry fly growly jolly

apply chilly sly cry
happily dry my story
 191

Bashful is shy. He hardly ever talks.

If Faith falls down on a walk, she may cry.

I enjoy seeing the birds fly.

Mom put my jeans in the laundry, and I am

waiting for them to get dry.

It is important to try hard in our reading lessons.

Pooh talks in a growly way. He thinks he has a

sly plan for catching a heffalump.

Let's hurry and finish our work so we can go out

and look at the sky.

You can fry eggs or boil them.

 192

29
my me Sally talking lawn
salt joyful broil snout fortress
spook flying squall cook bark
tree hoe roar boldness flower
colder quaint Walt Eskimo widow
rain droop window boy understand
park oar doe mower kangaroo
halt tower skin step stool sulking
clang bring skip strap singing
pink tank slowly slippery dryer
pool chalk long angry sly
 193

walk clown crying splash

boar blow puppy slinks
cool blown snatch quiz
my darkness bulky sulks
bulk reply hurt wept
fly complain squirt silk
sandy lantern sprout pigs
Tammy bank booklet asks
owl be roots ax
widow betray Paul rung
brains soaring sweetly rang
song chain hencoop ring
fool grow wettest whisk
hulk railroad we thank
paint always speaks boldness
strip hallway saints tower
 194

30

-ie can say a long I sound. (We will hear

about a different sound in another
lesson.)

pie stall
die straw
tried haul
died clang
tie hanger
tied joint
fried brawl
fry ouch
cried clay
cry roll
lie glow
lies
died
 195

fly
flies
Paul reads the story of the pie and the patty-pan.
He points at the letters as he reads.

A bird can fly. He launches himself from a

branch and flies, soaring in the sky.

I tried to tie my left sneaker, but it did not tie. I

cried. My mom found me roaring with anger.

I enjoy french fries with my dinner. My tears

were dried when Mom said we were eating fries
and pumpkin pie.

It is always bad to tell lies. Good boys and girls

never do it.

We do not throw a die when we play Candy

Land.
 196

31

wild find
wilderness finding
child
children
bind
binder
window
wind up the clock
wind on my cheek
mild
grind
kindergarten
kind
kindness
rind
spy
happy
shy
mind
blind
 197

Billy
Sally
sky
 198

The three children are lost in the wilderness. The

oldest child may think of a way to get back.

Children that are 5 years old study kindergarten

things.

It is important to be kind to my sisters.

I can feel the wind in my hair. Shut the window. It is

getting cold.

Clara winds up her nativity set box for Faith. It plays

a song.

A blind person cannot see.

In the morning, Mom grinds her coffee. Then she

gets water at the sink.

We put the rind in the sink and grind it up to make

the kitchen smell good. I hear the clink of dishes.

Mom's cooking is mild and not too hot, but it is

yummy.
 199

32

-ue
-ew

new
true
flew
blue
news
stew
newest
blew
chew
Sue
strewn
pew
hue
dew
glue

The bird flew down from the branch.

We all sit in a pew on Sunday morning.

 200

Sue has toys strewn all around. It's a mess!

The wolf blew down the blue house.

In the summer the grass has dew in the morning. In

the fall it has frost. In the winter it has snow.

Do not chew with your mouth open. It is disgusting.

Hal got sticky glue on his hands.

Paul threw a temper tantrum when he did not get his

own way.

Mom cooks yummy beef stew.

Faith is hearing new stuff in her reading lesson

today.
 201

33

unties pardon tower

complain teaspoon smartest
around sunbeam repeat
raincoat booklet untrue
seaport banjo toaster
borrow electric Saturday
classroom return goodness
September Jefferson understand
gardener confess sheepish
mailbox counter birthday
always Eskimo Mexico
away shortest August
steamboat Sunday burglar
numbers New York mustard
jeweler annoy seagull
swallow lantern snowball
Herbert kangaroo herself
railroad Monday Columbus
Easter yellow agreement
belongs November Thursday
 202

widow leapfrog yesterday

reply flowers hamburger
shadow butterfly punishment
Tuesday
showers
awnings
cartoon
discover
scarlet
oatmeal
enjoyment
murderer
western
window
 203

34

cap cape back bake tap tape

hate drape hat plane Jane sale
tape grave tap rate waste mate
rat wave quack shake mad made
quake slave cave cat same hal
gap Sam ate fate at hale
fat stack lame ape stake sham
came ham rake snack tap cat
made cap mad mane sad Kate
man snake gate shame rat mat

We wave at the car.

Jan and Jane had the same dress.
Mom will go back to the kitchen and bake a yummy cake.
Clara stands on her stool and puts toothpaste on her toothbrush.
The ducks quack, and the fish quake. The ducks may eat them.
A lake is a big pond.
We came to the house and had ham for supper.
He hears tap, tap, tap.
Clara gets the tape from the study.
When the dog is playing in the yard, he sees a snake. He is
afraid and thinks he will go in and get a snack.
 204

mad car care star stare square

mat snack fate fat far fare
mate quack quick sham Jan bar
bare tape Jane at glare base
shame pan ate hare quake Mark
mare taste plate plan lack lake
ape cap care bar slate dare

checkmate careful airfare cupcake

barely pancake baseball maddest
 205

35
pet--Pete
met--mete

Eve Pete set mete quick

Steve glade glad black Blake
quack Jan rare dad spade
stare tale pan Jane Janet
met share star male mall
grape grab quack squall
Pet quick wade pave name
scrape scrap pale pal Paul
 206

36

pin--pine rip--ripe rid--ride

lick--like sit--site
pick--pike dim--dime

Tim quick like

bike flak crime
time flake slid
pin prize chin
Mick print chime
while hive slide
Mike wife rip
Time wit sit
fin wire bride
fire smile ripe
fine white swipe
hid lack quit
will stick flick
hide spike quite
 207

37

not--note rot--rote
mop--mope chock--choke
cop--cope hop--hope
slop--slope smock--smoke
more rid Sally fault
cap drew Sal chore
dope slow sale cart
joke froze quake hare
stock Polly claw hate
store pole fall hat
hot stroll fir close
Ron pal fire snack
shine pale stir Jan
shin care tire snake
quack core girl closet
hen rope grill bone
ride mole salt cone
troll Molly haul tide

I will not mope when I must mop the kitchen.

 208

I hope you will not hop so hard that you make a hole in the
living room. I like the word "quack." It is fun to say.
A smock is something you put on to keep your shirt clean when
you do messy crafts. Smoke is what you get when you make a
fire.
 209

38

cut--cute purr--pure us--use cub--cube

tub--tube duck--duke fuss--fuse
cur--cure mull--mule

June mule
cure tune
crude tube
flute buck
cute stuck
cut brute
tub rude
cure lute
prune us
pure cute
rule use
flute
Luke
 210

A cub is a baby bear. A cube is something the shape of a block.

To mull something is to think about it. A mule is an animal like

a horse. It has a horse for one parent and a donkey for the other
parent.

A mutt is a dog. But if someone is mute, he cannot speak.

A brute is a big animal.

Crud is icky dirt. If something is crude, that means it is not

pretty. Crude has the same sound as rude, and sometimes they
mean the same thing.

A lute and a flute are both musical instruments. You can play a
tune on a flute.

Something that is pure is completely clean.

To cure someone is to make him well when he has been sick.

Prunes will not cure you of anything. They do not taste very
good, but some people like them.

To be nude is to have no clothes on. You must not run around

the house nude after your bath.

Put the cap on the tube of toothpaste when you get out of the
tub.
 211

June is the name of a month, but it can also be the name of a

girl. June rode a mule to get the prunes from the store. The
doctor thinks the prunes will cure Rube.

A fluke is something that happens for no reason. When Rube got

better after eating the prunes, Dad said it was just a fluke.

A brute is mute. It can't talk.

A duck cannot be a duke. A duke is an important kind of man.

We have no dukes in America. It is rude to refuse to speak to a
duke. He will think that you are crude and have no manners.
 212

39

licking--liking tapping--taping scrapping--scraping

filling--filing hoping--hopping winning--whining
mopping--moping wiping--whipping spinning--pining
care--caring file--filing cure--curing share--sharing

raking flicking
sticking nagging
stacking caring
making moping
liking stocking
stirring mopping
purring sweeping
grabbing tiling
scraping filling
curing liking
rubbing singing
skipping sobbing
hugging crying
sharing whirring
wiping shopping
begging coping
gazing filing
hoping
topping
lining
winning
hopping
 213

naming
firing
stirring
 214

40

dry--dried
pony--ponies

tied
hurried
flies
carries
pie
field
hungrily
blur
flurry
snuggly
loudly
chilliest
sunniest
dried
ladies
yield
fries
hurries
furriest
pies
 215

Seven bunnies sat happily in the sun on the green grass. The
mom bunny was getting lunch in the house under the sand bank
by the big fir tree. But the little bunnies were enjoying the fair,
sunny day.

Near the bunnies was the porch of a house. The tall man was on
the porch with his dog, Sam. Sam was looking at the bunnies.
Suddenly, Sam ran after the bunnies, barking loudly. Woof!
went Sam.

The bunnies all scurried away fast. They ran into the woods.
Sam ran after them. The smallest, funniest bunny was a little
brown bunny. He got his poor foot stuck in the crack of a log.
Hurry! shouted his sister. The dog will get here soon! He is
not far away.

The small brown bunny shook from ears to tail, he was so afraid
of the dog. But his foot was still stuck. All the other six bunnies
went hurrying away.

Then the tall man went out into his yard to call Sam. Sam!
Lunch! Sam went, Woof! He was telling the man about the
bunnies. But the man was not interested in running after
bunnies. He took Sam back to the house for lunch. Then the
little brown bunny got his foot out of the crack in the log, and he
went back to his mom. His mom was very happy to see him, and
she got him a yummy lunch. He was the happiest bunny in the
world.
 216

And that is the end of this story!

 217

angrily
fuzzy
fuzzily
happily
sneakily
hungrily
dizzily
easy
easily
cozily
creepy
cozy
 218

41

backed--baked filled--filed staked--stacked

hopped--hoped wiped--whipped planned--planed

crawled biked filled

robed stopped maned
smoked kicked filed
blocked roped manned
sprawled taped
filled pal
tapped padded
baked lined
rugged wicked
jagged skinned
hoped staked
whipped canned
backed planed
slipped pointed
filed joined
walked gale
nagged Hal
fitted gal
liked angrily
licked drawled
 219

42

canned sinning dote

sunnily fining site
planed win not
robed rob car
baked robbery mar
filled mope care
taped PAL note
biked TIM brine
skimmed sin skimpily
skinned time
roped bit
fined Dan
mad bite
gale spit
tap Dane
gal gale
cap spite
hal matted
cape grated
mop hat
cap sale
pan paste
hale bat
past hate
pane wiping
pale sipping
fin planing
 220

sit dot
fine gripe
pal skin
 221

43

call spruce mince Bruce lack lace cell

cab cent city kitty citizen cinder
kindergarten cant prick price pricing
lace laced face faced lack camera mice
spicy black cat lancet dancer dancing
catch cinch Blacky racy mice Mick
city glance glanced mincing race raced
braces circle cycle cell fancy citadel
pack pace camel spruce prince spice
scent scuff dances difference concert
scissors ace icy icky rice brick
cider circus truck truce pace cynical
grace braces catlike fence peak peace
slices mercy officer advice victory Bruce
silliest hungrily ice cream icicle juice lawn
faun caustic cub cube cinders splices
 222

44
bride bridge mad--Madge--made cage

bad--badge--bade--badger--bag smudge

big bilge gem Gene get hug--huge

fudge budge budging plead pledge

bulge stingy dog--dodge log--lodge gym

wag--wage stag--stage energy egg--edge

jug--judge--Jude cent gentle

strange stranger strangers page sage

bulgy ledge urgent damage garbage

smudgy stingy dingy passage George

ginger Gigi giving gills begin

gentleman beget urgent prodigal

comical regal scent age gift

gadget fidgety budget bridge

 223

badge bade wages budge

 224

Once upon a time there was a goat named Clancy.

Clancy liked to get into everything. He would eat all the
garments in the closet if he could get into the house. He
would eat the ganders food. He would certainly eat
curtains without any trouble at all. He had been known to
eat the formica edge of a table.
So Clancys people would incarcerate him in a stall
in the barn. It was not gorgeous, but at least he could not
get out and gorge himself on everything. (Clancys master
was named George.)
The regal peacock would sometimes giggle at
Clancy, because the peacock did not have to be shut up.
So one day Clancy chewed through the door of his stall
and barged out. He found his way into a storeroom where
he ate all kinds of things. He was just starting on a
cardboard container of incandescent light bulbs when
George came and found him.
What are you doing here? asked George. Clancy
could not talk, because he was a real goat, not an
imaginary goat, so he didnt say anything. He just went
on chewing the cardboard. George decided to put him in a
pen made out of stone and to give him some new food.
Maybe that would keep him in. What do you think?

The End
 225

madge bride gypsy

bridge bade gymnastic
lodge intercede wage
ledge dude badge
badge slide pigeon
dodge page Hodge
budge huge wedges
edge oblige sled
midge madge sledge
gadget mage nudge
budget wedge change
fudge gene engineer
midget nudges prodigal
badger badge gorge
fidget abide madge
widget grade danger
cadge pledges gadget
smudge strange gentle
bilge bulgy age
bulge cadge widget
bulgy bridge wide
badge bride ridge
bridge magic ride
Bridget range gander
hedge ranger gender
grudge Marge
grudging formica
hodge-podge legal
smudgy ledger
 226

indulgent crescent
 227

45

silent gh
ight as in night
igh as in high

sight slaughter
caught light
naughty naughtiest
daughter naughtiness
knight rightly
slaughter
mighty
high
bright
straight
daughter
lightning
bright
thigh
naughty
fight
frightened
gnaw
Madge
sigh
taught
slight
caught
 228

straighten
right
goodnight
 229

46

ought as in brought
eigh as in neigh

brought
weigh
weight
sought
freight
ought
eight
eighteen
sleigh
neighbor
neigh
thought
Exception: height
 230

weight sought
brought shout
snout wrought
fault awl
caught growl
height Madge
neigh maiden
mighty badger
mightiest bade
naughtiest
thought
sleigh
eight
thoughtful
naught
lightly
badge
shout
haul
ought
weigh
nigh
right
thigh
fought
pout
caught
knighthood
ledge
 231

widget
 232

47

silent l
alm as in calm

half
yolk
folks
calf
palm
calmest
alms
yolks
folk
calves
halves
calmly
 233

48

Silent h
gh as in ghost
ch as in school
th in Thomas

honest
honor
hour
John
ghost
ghostly
ghastly
school
Christmas
scholastic
Thomas
christen
scholar
chasm
schoolhouse
 234

49

rhymes with do rhymes with shout

through drought

rhymes with tow rhymes with taut

though ought
although brought
sought
rhymes with puff

rough
tough
enough

rhymes with off

trough
cough

rhymes with cow

bough
plough
slough
 235

Mix-up

drought
brought
through
though
bough
rough
caught
ought
plough
cough
enough
throughout
bought
daughter
taught
height
weight
although
chasm
chorus

The man had a rough climb up the hill. At the top he looked through a crack
and saw a deep chasm below. He caught himself so that he did not fall. Then
he sat down and ate the lunch he had brought along.

I had a tough day when I had that bad cough that I caught from my daughter.
Although I knew I ought to be cheerful throughout the whole day, it was
difficult.
 236

50
ea as in break (It says a long A sound.)

break
wear
steak
tear a piece of paper (This is different from a tear in your eye.
The word has a different sound depending on what it means.)
great breaking
swear wears
swears swearing
bear bears
pears greatness
bearing breakneck
pear greatest
steaks wearing

ea as in head (It says a short E sound.)

I read a book yesterday. (This is different from saying, "I can

read." There the ea has a long E sound.)
death bread meant bedspread
dead health feather instead
deadly healthy spreading deaf
weather sweat sweating health
breakfast threads thread spread
wealth wealthy deafness sweater
head heaven dread dreaded
ready already heavy leather
 237

tread treads steady steadiest

 238

51
ear as in heard
hear--heard ear--earn year--yearn
learn
yearning
earns
heard
learning
search
pearl
pearly
searches

And don't forget the old ea as in beak:

meal beam heat ear lean reading
near yeast dreaming leaf clear
peach bead clear veal scream

Mix-up

wear steak meant learning

ear leap mean leaning
dead heavy pearl clearest
beak hear bear yearn
break heard beat bead
lean clean search bread
learning swears leather pear
heaven ready leafy pearl
beach spear greatness earning
 239

52
ie as in field
(This is like the ie in bunnies.)
field Charlie
belief fiend
thieves
brownie
thief
shield
fierce
shriek
yield
priest
niece
wield
piece
ponies
believe
brief
believes
grief
siege
chief

ui as in fruit

juice bruises Exceptions: build, guild, guilt

fruit suit
juicy fruitful
 240

bruise suited
 241

53

u as in put

pull careful
put awful
bush handful
pudding grateful
bullet bashful
bull full
pushing wasteful
pushy pussycat
butcher

Review

fiend piece hush

fie shriek full
ties lie building
push Charlie bruise
rush die juicy
thief bush learn
pie puppies ear
fruity cries bread
siege magpie read
hull wield belief
bull chief rushing
pull shield
priest pushy
 242

54

Hello! I'm Mr. Sound-It Rabbit. I'm here to help you with some
of the more advanced lessons in your reading. Today we are
going to learn about strange sounds after w.

A after w is rather strange. Sometimes it says a short o sound,

like the o in hot, and sometimes it says an aw sound. Here are a
few words to practice.

water want wandering

wash swan
wander watch

After the letter w, the letters -ar sometimes sound like or, and
that is a little unusual. Here are some words like this:

war reward
warden warmer
warm warn
wart warning
warder warned
warrant warmed
warp

But when it comes after other letters, -ar has the sound you have
already learned, as in car.

Now, just to make things really odd, after the letter w the letters
 243

-or sometimes sound like er. One of the most common words
like this is the word word. Here are some more:

worship worm work worry worst word

worse world
 244

55

Hello! It's Mr. Sound-It again, here to teach you today about a
new sound that the letters ou can make. You already know about
the sound in the middle of "sound," which is part of my name.
Ou there says the same sound as -ow in owl or wow. But
sometimes the -ou can say a short u sound, like the sound in the
middle of the word fun. Often it makes this sound in the ending
-ous as in the word nervous. Sometimes there is an i before the -
ous ending. Then the i has a long e sound, as in the word
curious. Here is a list of words in which the ou has a short u
sound.

enormous trouble
curious touchy
glorious couple
country cousin
marvelous young
double generous
jealous younger
touch nervous
furious country
dangerous

Some of these words have surprising vowel sounds earlier in the

word. For example, in the word serious, the er sounds like ear.
In the word famous, the a is long. In the word gorgeous, the first
g is hard, because it is before the letter o, but the second g is
soft, before the letter e. Gorgeous means very beautiful. See if
 245

you can read these.

serious gorgeous famous

Mix it up! Let's have a review that mixes up the words you just
read with others in which the -ou has its ordinary sound. There
will also be review words from recent lessons.

George cousins
gorge country
gorgeous county
famous field
mouse warrant
guilt farming
fruit counting
bullet wandering
funniest building
glorious pushing
fiend rushing
fie serious
enormous earning
youngest earwig
wander Charlie
washing youngster
fasten bruise
pieces warp
touching generous
pounded enormous
war jealous
 246

car lousy
furious worry
cloudy cough
priest tough
siege worst
 247

56

Today we're going to talk about the sound the letter a has after
the letters qu. Just like w, the letters qu sometimes change the
sound of the a when it comes next. The a often has a short o
sound after qu, like the sound in the middle of hot. Here are
some words like that.

quality quandary
squat qualities
squash squander
quantity squall
qualm quantum

Here are a few more words where the a has a short o sound after
the letter w.

swan swat swallow swap swamp

 248

57

Today we're going to learn about words that have the

sound "shun" in them. But it won't be spelled like "shun."
It will be spelled in some other way. For example, -tion is
often pronounced "shun" as in the word "lotion." Here are
some examples:

addition fiction mention

subtraction attention fraction
motion reception
question station
action nation
invention additional
speculation exception

Sometimes the letters -sion are also pronounced "shun."

For example, the word "mission" ends with the sound
"shun." Here are some more examples.

permission impression
mansion emission
expression pension
mission passion
expansion session
 249

But very often the letters -sion have a sound that is just a
little different--the sound they have at the end of
"television." We can spell this sound "zhun." Here are
some words like this:

vision division
occasion
revision
incision
television
illusion
fusion

Let's do some sentences with the sounds we have just learned.

Addition, subtraction, and division are things we do in math.

A story that is fiction is made up. A story that is non-fiction is about

something that really happened.

You have to ask permission to read some books that are kept up high on
the shelves.

Sometimes we sing a song called "I've Got a Mansion."

People who have trouble with their vision may have to have glasses.

An incision is a cut.
 250

We occasionally go out to dinner.

"Please give me your attention," said the teacher.

"This is an exception to the rule," explained Mom.

"That isn't real. It's just an illusion," said Dad.

They searched everywhere for the videotape to put in the television. "I
can't find it at all," sighed Mary.

Mom must make a decision about whether Sarah will go to the party.

Action is more fun than inaction.

 251

58

Today we're going to learn about a funny use of the letters ci

and ti. Sometimes these letters make an sh sound. Isn't that
strange? A very common ending where ci makes an sh sound is
the ending cious, which is pronounced "shus." For example, the
word vicious means very mean. A vicious dog is one you should
avoid. I'll bet you already know the word delicious. See the
"shus" ending spelled -cious? There is a similar ending with the
ti, the tious ending, which is also pronounced "shus." The word
repetitious means doing something over and over again. Its last
syllable is pronounced "shus." Here are some words with the
shus ending spelled -tious or -cious.

gracious
ambitious
delicious
repetitious
vicious
cautious
suspicious
spacious
 252

Now, there are other ti and ci endings that are pronounced

"shul." These are -tial and -cial. For example, you know the
word special. See how it ends with "shul" spelled -cial? Another
word like this is partial, which means not including the whole
thing. I am giving you only a partial list of all the words that use
-ti and -ci with an sh sound. Here is a list of shul words.

partial initial
special
facial
official
martial
uncial
spatial
racial

Finally, we'll learn about words that end with a "shence" or a

"shent" sound, using -tience and -cience or -tient or -cient.

patience
conscience
patient
omniscient
efficient
impatient
Note: Don't get confused from this about the word science. It
does not begin with an sh sound. The c is soft, and the i is long.
This word is the name of a subject that your sisters learn about
 253

and that your daddy knows a lot about. It has to do with the way
things work in the physical world.
 254

59

We're going to put together a lot of the new words and phonics
concepts you have learned lately into a review list. Remember
to think of the fact that ci and ti sometimes say a sh sound. But
not always. I will put in some words like comical to make you
pay attention to whether the word ends in -cial or just -cal.

vision glorious suspicious mission intention

social vicious invention special spacious
victorious incipient gander gender gamble
gem pension uncial action gracious
permission addition subtraction fiction
Bengal bangle manger dangerous cousin
wand swap obedience
suspicious atrocious patience
division revision science
wasp conscience partial
omniscient fractional
facial magical
comical expression
quandary wand
efficient fission
radical wasp
official envision
quantity swamp
 255

60

Here are some review words for you and also some new words.
We are going to learn better how to read words that end in -ia,
-io or-ient, like Maria and obedient, and we're going to review
-ious, as in glorious. Remember that sometimes ci and ti
make an sh sound, as in patient or precious. The idea in many of
these words is that when i comes before another vowel, like a, e,
o, or u, the i sometimes has a long e sound. Have fun!

Columbia Philadelphia Maria Victoria

Zambia Gambia imperious glorious
experience gregarious vicarious obedient
obedience victorious chariot Colombian
material mysterious imperial Cheerio
polio glorious expedient ancient
sufficient ambient obedience lariat
efficient atrocious facial Christian
precious patient Austria hernia
Cheerios Victorian aquarium
 256

61

Here's a phonics concept that you already have some idea about.
Look at the end of this word:

insure

What does the end of it look like? That's right, it looks like the
word "sure." You know how to read that word already. Isn't it
strange that it sounds like it has an sh at the beginning when it
really just has an s all by itself? But sometimes s before -ur does
sound like sh. Not all the time. Here's a word where it does not:

insurmountable

But here's another word where it does have an sh sound:

insurance

Let's look at some words that have that "sure" sound in them.
Just occasionally, a word has a "zhure." That means that it starts
with a sort of buzzy sh, which we have talked about before.

assure
measure And here is one word with a buzzy sh sound
insure before u:
assurance usual
pleasure It's the same in all the words like it:
treasure unusual usually unusually
 257

insurance

Today we're also going to review an old phonics concept. The e

at the end of many words makes the vowel in the middle say its
name. Let's look at these pairs. We learned them some time ago,
but recently it seemed that maybe you had forgotten.

hop--hope
pop--pope
tap--tape
hat--hate
fin--fine
win--wine
smock--smoke

And a few with a long e in the middle. The e at the end makes
the e in the middle say its name:

mere
Eve
Pete
severe
 258

62

-ture and -tur words

furniture picture
mixture future
fixture
nature
natural
pasture

A few -tion and -sion words

caption
action
pension
mission
prescription
rational
national

-i've words that end with the sound "iv." (They look like they
should end with the sound in hive and five.)

active native detective

captive attentive
expensive positive

Words that end in -or where it says the "er" sound. It looks like
 259

it should say the sound in the word for, but it doesn't. Hint:
These words usually, though not always, refer to a person who
does something. A janitor is a person who cleans a building. A
doctor is a person who helps sick people.

actor visitor
traitor motor
favor actors
sailor doctor
elevator flavor
tailor captor
motor razor